Destiny's Call
by Lady Dawson
Summary: After discovering the truth about her heritage, Aria Sawyer continues her Slayer destiny. Along with discovering love for the first time, she will lose both of her best friends, one to evil and the other to despair. Takes place during Season 2.
1. Lie to Me I

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Lie to Me I

A young teenage girl with long, dark brown hair and piercing, calm blue eyes hurried across the rooftops, a stake in hand as she looked ahead at her blonde companion. Unlike her friend, Aria Sawyer was dressed much more conservatively, her outfit consisting of a light blue T-shirt, blue jeans, and a jean jacket.

"Buffy, wait up!" she called, hurrying to catch up with her sister Slayer. Unlike Buffy Summers, Aria had inherited her Slayer powers from her mother Gwyneth Seymour and it hadn't been until her arrival in Sunnydale that she had found out the truth about her mother, how she had died, and the fact that vampires, demons, and other things that children often had nightmares about were in fact real.

Slowing down somewhat, Buffy waited for to catch up. "You're slow today," she commented. "Giles tire you out earlier?"

"Yeah, I'm tired from getting whipped by a forty-something British librarian," Aria said, rolling her eyes. Both of them laughed at the image of Aria getting beat up by Rupert Giles, their Watcher. "Nah, I just have been having weird dreams lately."

"Slayer dreams?" Buffy queried as they walked together across the rooftops. Aria shook her head.

"No. Nightmares."

Since the night that they had faced Josephine, Aria had been waking up in terror, her mind pulling images from very far back in her childhood. She would watch as her mother would be killed by Josephine, along with her Watcher Samuel Wyatt, and then the images would change and she would see herself and Buffy in the sewers.

She kept hearing Josephine's voice in her head, taunting her about her mother and father. Aria just wanted the images to stopped, but she doubted they would, not until she worked through them a little.

"It's just the whole thing with Josephine," she explained to Buffy's questioning look. "I'm sure they'll go away eventually."

"Okay, but you know I'm here if you ever need to talk, right?" Aria nodded as they stopped at the edge of a building, about to climb down and head for the cemetery to do some patrolling when Buffy suddenly stopped, her face going very pale.

"What's wrong?" Aria asked her before she looked over the ledge, her eyes catching what Buffy had immediately. "_Oh._"

Buffy's vampire boyfriend Angel was standing in the park with a very pretty girl. She had dark hair and wore an old fashioned dress. They were standing very close together, almost intimately. Aria bit her lip before looking sideways at Buffy.

Her sister's expression was hard, as though she were trying very hard not to cry. But she could plainly see the hurt striking through her eyes and she gently placed a hand on her shoulder before looking back at Angel and the girl.

"This can't go on, Drusilla," Angel was saying, his words clearly heard from where they stood. "It's got to end."

The girl—Drusilla—tilted her head back expectantly, waiting for a kiss. "Oh, no, my pet," she replied. "This is just the beginning." She gave him a smile that Aria was used to, by now, seeing on vampires before she turned on her heel and walked away from him.

Angel watched her go before turning around, not even sensing or smelling either of the Slayers, and heading in the direction of his apartment. Aria suppressed a sigh, making a mental note to go talk to him about what that was all about later.

Much later, because right now she had a heart-broken sister to take care of first.

Turning to Buffy, Aria pulled her away from the ledge. "Come on, Buffy, let's go home," she said firmly. "We've been patrolling for awhile, there isn't anything."

"I wouldn't say nothing," Buffy pointed out, but allowed Aria to lead her back towards Revello Dr. and back to their house. Thankfully, Joyce was still asleep when they got back into Buffy's room. Aria went into her own room and dressed in a nightgown before returning to Buffy's room for a late night tear-jerking movie and a good cry.

--

It was still early the next morning when Aria headed out of the door, needing to do some research for school, so she was there when Giles arrived with Ms. Calendar, the computer teacher, while they were discussing plans for a big date the next night.

"Isn't there some rule against teachers dating one another?" Aria queried without looking up from the books on Louis XVI.

"Good morning, Aria," Giles said with an affronted look towards her, but judging from his expression, he knew that it had been kindly meant. "Doing some research? Is there perhaps some paranormal activity on . . . Louis XVI?" he added, peering at the books.

"Nah. Research paper," Aria explained, smiling at him. "I'd like to get it done early, since there's a good chance there's gonna be something that gets in the way of me getting it done on time if I put it off. Not everything has to do with the hellmouth, Giles."

"Apart from the fact you're doing research on it," Buffy said as she entered the library, taking the seat across from her sister. "Hey, Giles."

"Hello. Did we hunt last night?"

"We did a couple of sweeps downtown," Buffy replied, her voice surprisingly even. Aria glanced at her once, having seen the breakdown of her sister the previous night, before looking back down at the books, scribbling some more notes.

"Were there any encounters?"

Buffy was just looking at her nails, keeping her eyes determinedly away from Aria, who looked at her. "Nothing vampirey," she answered.

"Hmm." Giles walked over to the two Slayers. "Uh . . . I've been researching your friend Spike. The profile is fairy unappetising. But I still haven't got a lead on why he's here."

"You'll figure it out," Buffy assured him, still less enthusiastically than she usually was. And this time, Giles picked up on it.

"Are you all right? You seem a little glum."

Buffy shrugged. "I'm fine."

"Hey, Giles, any chance I could get some of these books checked out?" Aria asked, glancing towards the time. "There's no way I'm gonna get this paper done if I'm limited to very brief sessions in the morning." Immediately, Giles picked up the ones she indicated and headed over to the counter to check them out to her.

"Why don't you take the night off?" he suggested to Buffy, who had followed them over. "You could spend some time with Angel."

"I don't know," Buffy said, almost angrily. "He might have other plans." She walked out of the library briskly and Aria winced slightly as Giles looked at her curiously.

"We saw Angel with some girl last night," she explained wearily. Giles looked extremely surprised by this. "I don't know, it could've been completely innocent. We both know how he feels about her."

"Yes," Giles agreed. "It's rare to find two people so in love, especially mortal enemies."

"Classic Romeo and Juliet," Aria agreed as she picked up the books. "Thanks for the books, Giles." She slipped them into her bag before heaving it onto her shoulder. "Any word yet if the Council's going to send some guys to poke and prod at me?"

"Not that I know of. Right now, they're more interested in my reports of how much Slayer powers you seem to have inherited."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Well, keep me posted. I got to go. Don't want to be late; it's only my second week."

She headed out of the library and headed straight for History, where she took her usual seat behind Buffy, taking notes while Buffy and Willow Rosenberg, one of their friends who knew about their identities and helped them fight vampires, passed notes to one another. From what she glimpsed of it, it was regarding the mysterious girl from the night before. Only when class was over did they have the chance to talk.

"I don't know," Buffy said in answer to Willow's question if the girl had been a vampire. "I don't think so. They seemed pretty friendly."

"Really? I thought she was," Aria mused, thinking back to Drusilla, as Angel had called her. "She seemed pretty creepy, anyway."

"Who's friendly?" Xander Harris asked as he appeared right next to the three girls. Aria opened her locker and put her books inside as they continued their discussion and she accidentally bumped into someone as she shut her locker and turned around.

"Oh! Sorry," she apologised to the guy she'd run into, looking up into the most handsome face that she had ever laid eyes on.

He was pretty tall, maybe as tall as Angel, with a mess of brown hair hanging around his face and into his blue-grey eyes, which focused on Aria the moment that they ran into each other. For a moment, they didn't leave her and then he smiled crookedly, bending down to pick up a fallen book.

"Don't worry about it," he told her, still smiling as he handed her the book and headed down the hallway, glancing back at her as she tightened her hold on the book.

Aria watched him go until he had merged with the crowd, vanishing behind a corner, and she looked away, certain that her face was flushing as Buffy appeared next to her, cocking an eyebrow.

"See something you like, sis?" she teased.

Blushing violently, Aria fought a small smile as they headed to the lounge, now discussing her love life. Willow already knew his agenda. "His name's Jesse Bryant, he just moved here during the summer. Kind of a loner. They say that he's a karate maniac, though. The motorcycle outside belongs to him," she added.

"Not that this isn't interesting and everything, but let's get back to what Angel's doing wrong," Xander insisted. "If he's doing something wrong, I wanna know. It gives me a happy."

"I'm glad someone has a happy," Buffy replied as Aria gave him a dirty look. Clearly, the boy was still hung up over the blonde Slayer, but someone needed to knock some sense into his thick skull.

"Aw, you just need some cheering up. And I know just thing! Crazed dance party at the Bronze! Very calm dance at the Bronze?" he suggested when all three girls shot him looks. "Moping at the Bronze?" he added weakly, sinking into his seat at Aria's glare.

"Alexander Harris, you don't know when to back off, do you?" Aria told him just as a guy approached from behind them.

"I'd suggest a box of Oreos dunked in apple juice, but maybe she's over that phase," he said brightly. Aria wrinkled her nose at the thought as Buffy spun around, looking thrilled to see the guy, whoever he was. "Hey, Summers," he said as they embraced. "How you been?"

"Ford, what are you doing here?"

"Matriculating," he replied as they pulled away. "I'm finishing out my senior year at Sunnydale High. Dad got transferred."

"This is great."

"I'm glad you think so," Ford said as Aria shot Willow and Xander a confused look, but they just shrugged, clearly as much as the dark as she was. Well, at least she wasn't alone in that, Aria thought. "I didn't think that you'd remember me."

"Remember you? We only went to school together for seven years. You were my giant fifth grade crush."

"So you two know each other," Xander observed, bringing the rest of the gang into the conversation.

"Oh, sorry, guys," Buffy apologised. "This is Ford. Billy Fordham, this is Aria, Willow, and Xander." She pointed to each of them in turn. Aria gave him a smile, but there was something about this guy that she was getting bad vibes off of. It wasn't a demon feeling, it was more along the lines that there was something about this guy she didn't trust. "Ford and I went to Hemery together in L.A. and now you're here. For real?" she added, looking at him.

"Dad got the transfer and boom, he just dragged me out of Hemery and put me down here."

"This is great!" Buffy said enthusiastically, more than she had all morning. "Well, I mean, it's hard, sudden move, all your friends, delicate time, very emotional, but let's talk about me! This is great!"

"So you two were sweeties in the fifth grade?" Willow asked, smiling at the thought.

"Not even," Buffy answered, laughing as she and Ford sat together across from the other three. "Ford wouldn't give met he time of day."

Aria chuckled despite herself as Ford said, "Well, I was a manly sixth-grader. I couldn't be bothered with someone that young."

"It was terrible," Buffy complained, crossing her arms and trying to appear annoyed. Aria couldn't help grinning as she saw her sister's expression. "I moped over you for months. Sitting in my room, listening to that Divinyl's song 'I Touch Myself'."

"Buffy!" Aria gawked at her, eyes wide, and Buffy blushed, looking nervously at them.

"Of course, I had no idea what it was about," she admitted and Aria shook her head, looking to Ford.

"You know, if you're not busy tonight, maybe you'd like to come with us to the Bronze," she offered. She may not trust the guy, but it wasn't wrong to be nice to someone.

"It's a local club," Buffy explained to his expression. "You have to come."

"I'd love to, but if you guys already have plans, would I be imposing?" Ford asked, looking around at them.

Aria shot Xander a warning look before giving Ford a smile. "Not at all, we'd be happy for you to come."

Ford seemed happy by this. "Well, then, I'll be there. I got to find the admissions office, get my papers in order."

Buffy immediately leaped up to take him there, speeding away with him and talking a mile a minute.

Once they were alone, Aria looked to Willow and Xander. "Am I the only one who's getting a really creepy feeling by this guy?"

"Nope," Xander grumbled. "Why'd you invite him along if he gives you the creeps, Aria?"

She sighed, glancing back at where Buffy and Ford had vanished. "There's an old saying, Xander," Aria told him. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."


	2. Lie to Me II

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Lie to Me II

Throughout the entire day, Aria kept a close watch for Jesse Bryant, but he never seemed to show up anyway, though she looked. It was as though he had just vanished into thin air or something. She couldn't help but like the way that he looked at her, straight into her eyes. There was something about the way that he looked at her, as though he could see straight through her, right down into her soul.

Since she was the one who invited Ford, Aria didn't really have any choice but to go to the Bronze with Buffy when she left later that day. Aria didn't say anything to her sister, but there was just something about that boy that she couldn't put her finger on. Aria didn't trust him; there was something off about him. Much as she wanted to trust him for Buffy's sake, she couldn't.

But thankfully, she wasn't the only one who thought the same thing, but Aria suspected that Xander didn't like him simply because he and Buffy used to be sweethearts, so he was going to be of no help.

Aria walked in the Bronze after Buffy, her brunette hair bouncing off of her shoulders as she wandered through the club, her hands in her pockets as they managed to find their way to Ford, Willow, and Xander, who were all at one of the pool tables, already playing.

"Hey, Ford, you made it," Buffy said, greeting him enthusiastically as they joined them.

"Wasn't that hard to find," he answered with a shrug. "Hi, Aria," he added to the second Slayer, who gave him a nice smile as she shrugged out of her jacket, laying it on one of the chairs nearby. "Does this girl just not talk or do you not like me?"

Aria actually chuckled. "No, I talk, I just . . ." she trailed off, shrugging. "It's very nice to see you again. Nice shot," she added as he sunk his shot in one of the holes.

"Thanks. We can start over if you want to join," he offered.

"Uh . . . definitely not," Aria answered, shaking her head. Before Sunnydale, she'd never really gone to many clubs, her social structure restricted solely to the library. So she'd never really had a chance to learn how to play. "You want to play poker, then count me in, but I don't play pool."

"Never too late to learn," Buffy pointed out as she laid her jacket next to Aria's. "What have you guys been talking about?"

"Your ninth grade beauty contest," Willow answered with a grin. "And the uh, swimsuit competition." This caused Buffy to turn to Ford, who was grinning sheepishly, and glare at him.

"Oh, my god, Ford, stop that!" she scolded. "The more people you tell, the more people I have to kill."

"You can't touch me, Summers," he countered. "I know all your darkest secrets."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Care to make a small wager on that?" he asked, but quieted at Aria's glare.

"I'm gonna go get a drink," Buffy said as she pushed away from the others and towards the bar. "Ford, try not to talk."

Shaking her head, Aria noticed that Angel was standing at the bar and bit her lip worriedly as she looked towards them, wondering if she should go over there and intervene. Buffy was still pretty upset about what they had seen the previous night. She really hoped that Angel would do the right thing and just tell her the truth about that girl.

After a few minutes, Buffy headed back to the pool table without getting her drink, followed closely by Angel, though she looked irritated by this. Aria inhaled slightly as, after quick introductions, Buffy dragged Ford out of the Bronze, leaving the other four alone.

"Okay, once more with tension," Xander said as Angel watched his girl leave with Ford. Aria got up, picking up her jacket as she did so, laying a hand on his arm.

"Come on, let's go talk," she told him quietly as he looked around at her. Though he looked worried, Angel followed her towards the other side of the Bronze, away from Willow and Xander, where they could talk quietly.

"He just moved here?" Angel asked her.

"Yeah, moves pretty fast, too," Aria told him as she took a seat. "What did you and Buffy talk about?"

Angel shook his head, shrugging. "Nothing much. She just asked what I did last night."

Aria nodded knowingly. "And what did you tell her? The truth or did you just shield it with lies?" Angel looked slightly hurt by her words. "I didn't mean it like that. Angel . . . Buffy and I were patrolling last night and we saw you with that girl, Drusilla, I think you called her?"

"Oh, no."

"Mm-hmm." Aria fiddled with her necklace as she looked at her friend. "She was pretty upset about it. What was going on? And please just tell me that it was completely innocent," she begged him. "Because I really don't want you two to mess up what you've got here."

"It was completely innocent," he assured her. "Drusilla is a vampire. She . . ." Angel looked down, the shame evident in his eyes. "I made her, before I was cursed. She's also Spike's mate."

Letting out a slow breath, Aria felt relieved. "Well, as glad as I am that you're off the hook, how bad is it?"

"I was just telling her to get out of town before things got worse," Angel told her. "Problem is with Drusilla . . . you can't really have a logical conversation. And I'm the reason she's like that."

Aria laid her hand on his arm, looking at him in concern. "You want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Okay." Aria wasn't going to push, not unless she really thought that it was information that she needed to know. "But you should probably tell Buffy, before someone else tells her about it. Call me a romantic, but you guys have the kind of love that plays and epics are written about. I'd hate for something as simple as this to screw that up."

"You call this simple?"

"Well, I kind of meant it just getting messed up because the guy didn't want to tell his girl the truth," Aria told him. Angel didn't smile, nodding in understanding as he looked towards where Buffy had vanished.

"What do you really know about this guy?"

"About as much as you do," Aria answered quietly, suppressing a small sigh. "But there's one thing I do know for sure and that's there's something not right about him." She shook her head. "Maybe we should try and get some information about him."

"Yeah, well, the problem is this guy is human. Demons, I could get information on easily, but . . ."

"Right. So where are we going to track down information about a seventeen-year-old boy, an old friend of the Slayer's, whose information is probably classified?" Aria paused and then looked at Angel knowingly.

"Willow," they both said at the same time.

--

Aria got to school early the next day, but instead of going to the library and working on her history essay, she searched for Willow, finally finding her by her locker. After making sure that Buffy was nowhere in sight, Aria headed towards her.

"Did Angel talk to you?" she wanted to know. Willow's face tensed as she looked at the brunette Slayer, but she nodded. "Did you find anything out?"

"Not a whole lot, I'm still working on some stuff," Willow answered with a sigh. "I just don't like keeping stuff like this from Buffy. I mean, I'm no good at lying, especially to my best friend, you know?"

Aria nodded, understanding. "Believe me, I get it, but I'd rather be Buffy mad at us later on than do nothing and then she get into really big trouble later on. I pick the lesser of two evils. Besides, I know that boy's hiding something. So what did you find out?"

"Nothing, that's the thing," Willow sighed. "There's no paper trail, no records . . . there's just nothing. I haven't even been able to track down where he's even staying at here in Sunnydale." Aria frowned; she _definitely_ did not like the sound of that. "I'm sure I'll find something, it's just going to take me a little bit longer."

"Don't worry, I got your back if my sister shows up. Besides, you could always tell her that you've been drinking coffee," she suggested, knowing about Willow's low tolerance for coffee. The redhead's face brightened at that suggestion and she nodded. "All right, well, I better get to the library and work on our history essay. Keep me posted, okay?"

"Will do," Willow assured her as Aria hoisted her bag higher onto her shoulder and headed away from her, unaware that there was a handsome, brunette guy watching her as she turned the corner. Jesse Bryant watched her go, a captivated expression on his face.

Aria stopped as she looked back, sensing someone's gaze on her, but she saw no one. Dismissing it as her imagination, she headed away, towards the direction of the library.

--

"This address was the only thing that I could track down," Willow told Aria, Xander, and Angel as they walked through the dark and empty streets. "The Sunset Club. Still didn't find anything incriminating."

"He leaves no paper trail, no records, that's incriminating enough," Angel told her.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with Dead Boy on this one," Xander said, causing Aria to scowl at him.

"Xander," she said warningly.

"Could you not call me that?" Angel added, looking as annoyed as Aria felt, giving Xander a look. He walked up to the door of the Sunset Club and gave a sharp rap on it, causing the view-port to open and someone peered out at them, looking at the four unfamiliar faces. "We're friends of Ford's."

That was all it took for the doorman to open the entrance and allow them access into the club. Aria blinked, automatically noticing the difference between it and the Bronze. And she knew instantly which one she preferred.

"Whoa," she muttered, getting a good look around at the dark, gothic look that seemed to have one theme in mind.

Vampires.

"Let's look around," Angel told them. "Aria and I will check out up here, you guys look downstairs." Without waiting to see if they would obey the instructions, Aria left with Angel as they inspected everything from above.

"This is certainly different," Aria said quietly as she glanced sideways at Angel. "What is this place?"

"Something I've come across before," Angel answered quietly. "There are some people who are well aware of the existence of vampires. But instead of fearing them as they should, they practically worship them."

Aria shook her head, shoving her hands into her pockets as she surveyed the club critically. "Okay, so what's Ford got to do with this?"

"That's what we need to find out." Angel headed back downstairs, where Willow and Xander were talking to one of the girls, who was enthusiastically welcoming them into the club.

"Don't be ashamed! It's cool that you're open to it. We welcome anyone who's interested in the Lonely Ones."

"The Lonely Ones?"

"Vampires," Angel informed Willow as they rejoined the other two.

"Oh, we usually call them the nasty, pointy, bitey ones," Xander said with his usually wit. The girl only smiled at them, looking at them as though they were innocent children.

"So many people have that misconception. But they who walk the night are not interested in harming anyone." Aria looked at her as if she were crazy; not harm anyone? That was really doubtful. "They are creatures above us. Exalted!"

"You're a fool," Angel said flatly.

"You don't have to be so confrontational about it," the girl retorted, looking hurt. "Other viewpoints than yours may be valid, you know." She swept away from them.

"You really are a people person," Xander informed Angel.

"Now nobody's going to talk to us," Willow pointed out.

"I've seen enough. I've seen this type before. I mean, they're children making up bedtime stories of friendly vampires to comfort themselves in the dark," Angel replied.

"Some people are just lonely," Aria pointed out. "They need something to believe in."

"These people don't know anything about vampires," Angel told her. "What they are, how they live, how they dress—"

Aria couldn't help but smile as a guy dressed exactly like Angel came up right behind them, giving Angel a once over before walking past them. She shook her head as they headed out of the club.

"You know, I love a good diatribe," Xander said as they climbed up the stairs, nobody giving them a second glance as they passed them. "But I'm still curious why Ford, bestest friend of the Slayer, is hanging with a bunch of vampire wannabes."

"Something's up with him, you guys were right about that," Willow agreed as they headed out of the club, the door closing behind them. "What do we do now?"

"You two go home," Angel answered at once. "I'm gonna go talk to Buffy. Aria . . ."

"Will be going for a patrol to leave you to talk to my sister," Aria said with a sigh as she walked away from them.

"Be careful," Angel warned. She smiled at his older brotherly tone and just turned back to him.

"When am I ever not?" she queried. He just smiled at her as he headed in the direction of her house and she headed towards the nearest cemetery, needing something to pound on.

Unaware to her, there was someone following her once again, tracking her through the shadows as Aria wandered through the cemetery.


	3. Lie to Me III

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Lie to Me III

As she walked through the dark streets after a quick patrol, Aria wondered what Angel and Buffy were talking about and if they were doing okay. Apart from being her friends, they were as close as family as she had. And, well, Buffy _was_ her sister, in everything but blood. They were sisters by destiny and that was as strong as blood.

Pulling her jacket tighter around her, Aria caught sight of someone behind her out of the corner of her eye and she glanced backwards inconspicuously, but whoever was following her wasn't showing himself. Or herself. But her Slayer senses weren't humming, so she didn't think it was a vampire or a demon. Most likely, just some creep who was stalking some teenage girl.

_Sicko,_ she thought darkly as she rounded the corner, staying right where she was and waited for him to come to her. If he really was following her, then he would come right to her.

And he didn't disappoint. Not even a minute later, a teenage boy turned around the corner and she punched him in the jaw.

"Ow!" Aria spun around, taking a fighting stance as he launched himself into a defensive position, rolling right underneath her. She jumped, grabbing hold of the lamppost and swinging around and hitting him directly in the jaw, causing him to stumble back.

Landing gracefully on her feet, Aria grabbed him by the leather jacket, pinning him against the wall. "All right, what do you—?" she began, but stopped talking the minute that she saw his face and her heart stopped altogether.

It was Jesse Bryant.

He looked just as stunned as she felt as he saw her in the light for the first time. "Uh . . . hi," he said, breaking the awkward silence that had settled down upon them. "Good reflexes." He winced slightly, trying to move his hand to rub his jaw, but Aria still had him pinned. "Um . . . could you . . . maybe let me down?"

"Huh? Oh!" Aria had been so shocked to see him there that she hadn't realised she still held him in place. "Sorry," she muttered as she let him down.

Jesse groaned slightly, rubbing his jaw. "Don't worry about it. Although you hit pretty good, for a girl," he said dryly, wincing slightly. She frowned at his words. "Sorry. I just meant . . . I've never seen any girl take me the way you just did."

Aria said nothing, not sure what she should say. Giles was going to give her an earful when he found out that she had used her Slayer powers on a human. "I . . . I guess I'm just stronger than I look," she said finally.

"I believe that." Jesse chuckled and winced again. "So, uh . . . good seeing you again. It's Aria, right?"

"Yes, and I'm still kind of wondering why a classmate of mine would be following me around at . . ." She checked her watch. "One o'clock in the morning. It's pretty late."

"Well, shouldn't you be at home too?"

"I'm on my way," Aria said with a shrug. "But not until I find out why you were following me." She folded her arms across her chest, looking at him pointedly and he quickly averted his gaze away from her, heading away from her to sit down on a bench nearby. Aria slowly followed him, taking the seat next to him.

"Would you be at all offended if I simply said that I was worried about you?" he asked her finally. Aria looked confused. "I saw you leaving that whack club and then heading for the cemetery."

"You were spying on me?! What gives the—"

"I wasn't spying!" he insisted. Aria frowned at him, not believing him for a second. "I wasn't! Believe it or not, I was just leaving the coffee shop and was taking the long way home when I saw you. I was worried, so . . . yeah, I followed you," he admitted. "But I was just trying to keep an eye on you, just in case you needed my help. Clearly," he added, wincing again, "you're not in need of any knight in shining armour. I definitely wasn't picking a damsel in distress to follow."

Aria still looked up at him—he was a good head taller than she was—still frowning. "Why would you even bother following me, though?"

"Just in case you needed some help," he said, not unkindly. "I . . . was worried about you. In case you haven't noticed, this town isn't exactly the safest at night."

That caused her to smile slightly. "Yeah, I've noticed," she said softly. "I can take care of myself."

"Obviously. But maybe you shouldn't have to." Jesse grinned at her. "We haven't really officially met, have we? I'm Jesse Bryant."

"Aria Sawyer," she said, giving him a small smile, accepting his hand and he shook it. "So . . . where'd you learn how to do that, anyway?"

"My dad started me up on karate when I was about six or seven," Jesse answered with a shrug. "Of course, that was after I got beat up a couple of times by some older kids. After the sixth or seventh time, he got tired of it and signed me up for some self-defence classes. Then I just kept with it. It's a great stress reliever," he added with a grin. "How about you?"

"You grow up in foster homes, you learn how to defend yourself really quick," Aria said with a shrug. Jesse's expression turned to a frown.

"Foster homes?"

"Yeah, my birth mom died when I was a little kid," Aria said softly, averting her gaze. "I barely even remember her."

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right." Aria looked back up into his blue-grey eyes, finding herself drawn into those eyes. They were pulling her towards him like a moth to a flame. And if she wasn't careful, then it could turn out to be just as deadly. "Uh . . . well . . . I should probably get home. Buffy and Joyce are probably wondering where I'm at."

"Right." Jesse jumped up, helping her to her feet. "Well, I insist on walking you home."

"I can take care of myself," she insisted.

"Humour me," he said with a calm smile at her. "And maybe I'd just like to spend a little more time with you."

Aria paused, looking back at him as he waited, letting her decide. After a minute, she jerked her head, indicating him to follow.

With a smile, he fell into step next to her and they walked together in the quiet, empty streets that were lit by the moon hovering overhead, the stars twinkling above them. She didn't know why she let Jesse talk her into this, into walking her home. But just as with Buffy and Angel, she felt as though she could trust him.

And she hadn't been wrong about them, so why should she be wrong about Jesse?

Besides . . . she didn't want to say goodbye to him just yet.

They talked a little, mostly about school and how different Sunnydale was from San Francisco, but it was altogether too soon when she saw her house up ahead and she felt disappointment settle down upon her as she looked towards Jesse.

"Here's my house," she said, looking up at him.

"Right." He looked just as disappointed as she felt, but stepped away from her. "Good night."

"Night," she said softly, stepping back towards the door, but not turning her back on him, not until she reached her door. She reluctantly turned the key in the lock and opened the door, taking one last look at him before going inside, closing the door behind her.

She heard footsteps on the other side and peered out the curtain to see Jesse leaving and Aria smiled, feeling slightly giddy as she let the curtain fall back into place and she turned around to find Buffy standing right behind her.

"Was that Jesse Bryant leaving?"

Aria blushed, but didn't stop the smile that spread across her face. "Yeah," she answered, still red. "He just . . . was walking me home."

Her sister shook her head slightly, a hint of amusement in her eyes as she headed over to the couch. "Well, don't do anything that I wouldn't do," she replied reproachfully. Aria chuckled as she headed over to sit down next to Buffy on the couch.

"You're dating a vampire. As far as I know, Jesse's human," she pointed out. Buffy's amused expression vanished and she looked away slightly. "I'm guessing Angel talked to you." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," Buffy muttered. "Did you know that he was the one who sired Drusilla?"

Aria sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I knew. He told me last night, when I told him what we saw." Buffy shook her head. "The only reason why I didn't mention anything was because he was going to tell you. And when I asked if Angel talked to you, I wasn't really talking about the Drusilla thing."

"I know." Buffy sighed, leaning her head back. "I knew before he said anything. Ford said that he killed this vampire and then she showed up in the library tonight and stole one of Giles' books. That's when I knew that something was going on."

"Buffy . . . I'm sorry. I really wanted to be wrong about Ford, but . . . I just had this feeling in my gut."

"And you were right."

"I didn't want to be right."

"But you were." Buffy sighed as she got to her feet. "And I'm going to find out what's going on." She headed upstairs and Aria watched her sister go before heading upstairs after her, disappearing into her own room.

--

As she headed into school the next day, Aria really wished that Buffy would tell her what she was going to do, because she didn't want her sister to go headstrong into some place without knowing what was going on. It was probably that kind of behaviour that was responsible for more than half the deaths of previous Slayers.

Aria was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Jesse had approached her until he was standing right next to her. "Everything all right?" he asked her, noticing her weary expression.

"Yeah, I'm just worried about my sister," Aria told him.

"You've got a sister?"

"Well . . . no, not exactly, but . . . Buffy's as close to a sister as I've got and I'm living with her and her mom, so . . ." Aria smiled faintly before looking up at him. "Sorry. How are you?"

Jesse leaned against the lockers. "Well, that depends," he admitted. "I was about to ask this very beautiful girl to go to the Bronze with me tonight, but I'm kind of worried that she'll say no. So what do you think that I should do?" he wanted to know. His blue-grey eyes watched her teasingly.

"Hmm. . . . Well, I think that maybe you should ask her and see what happens," Aria answered as she looked back at him, her heart fluttering in her chest. Was he really going to . . .?

"All right." Jesse straightened and looked directly at her. "Aria Sawyer, would you please go with me to the Bronze tonight?"

Aria smiled and was about to say yes when she saw Buffy heading towards Willow and Xander and she sighed, looking towards Jesse regretfully. She really did want to go with him, but . . .

"Jesse, I want to say yes, I really do, but I can't do it tonight. I think that I'd just end up having to cancel if I said yes. Do you think maybe we can do it tomorrow night?" she asked him, biting her lip and hoping with all of her heart that he would say yes. She really did like him and apparently, he liked her, otherwise he wouldn't be talking to her. Most guys didn't, just plain ignored her when she passed by. And they most certainly wouldn't go out of their way just to talk to her.

"I think that's a definite possibility," Jesse said and her heart leaped into her throat with delight. "So, tomorrow night, say . . . eight o'clock?"

"Eight o'clock," Aria agreed as Buffy suddenly appeared right next to her, looking towards her and Jesse. "Hey, Buffy, this is Jesse. Jesse, my sister Buffy Summers."

"Hey."

"Hi," Jesse said with a smile at her before looking at Aria. "So, I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Bye," Aria said as he walked away. Buffy smiled at her as she turned back to her sister. "Okay, if you so much as make one joke about this, then I am never speaking to you again."

"Who, me? Never." Buffy grinned. "So what are you going to wear tomorrow night?"

"I'll find something." Aria sighed and Buffy raised an eyebrow. "I'll borrow something from you."

"Attagirl."

"But first things first, we figure out what your friend's up to."

--

A few days later, Aria was standing with Buffy and Giles in front of Ford's grave as her sister laid a bouquet of red roses on it. Buffy had gone after him and his friends, only to be led into a trap. That was when Ford had revealed the truth to her; that he had wanted to be changed because he was already dying. He was sick.

Aria felt sorry for him now, but that didn't change what he had tried to do, get rid of her sister just for the chance for a demon to take his place. She watched Buffy as she walked back to them, wrapping her arm around her sister.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say," she confessed.

"Sometimes the silence is better," Aria told her. "Sometimes, saying nothing is the best thing to say."

"It'd be simpler if I could just hate him. I think he wanted me to. I think it made it easier for him to be the villain of the piece. Really, he was just scared."

"Yes, I suppose he was," Giles said, not unkindly.

"Nothing's ever simple anymore," Buffy said sadly. "I'm constantly trying to work it out. Who to love or hate, who to trust. It's like, the more I know, the more confused I get."

"I believe that's called growing up," Giles told her with a small smile. Buffy looked at him.

"I'd like to stop then, okay?"

"I know the feeling," Giles said softly as the two Slayers stood together right next to the grave, waiting for him to rise. Waiting for the demon of Buffy's friend to rise, only to die again.

"Does it ever get easy?" Buffy asked mournfully.

At that same moment, Ford suddenly plunged out of his grave, his face in full demonic form, and growled at the Slayers as he moved to attack them. Aria got up and plunged the stake into his heart so Buffy wouldn't have to stake her friend. Instantly, he turned into dust.

"You mean life?" Giles questioned in answer to Buffy's previous question and she nodded, looking at him.

"Yeah. Does it get easy?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Lie to me."

Aria's mouth twitched as they started heading out the cemetery. "Yes, it's terribly simple," he answered. "The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or blacks hats. And, uh . . . we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies and everybody lives happily ever after."

"Liar," Buffy muttered as she smiled.

"It'd be nice if it was that easy," Aria said quietly. "But the problem is that it's not. Especially for people like us. We live in a different world that coexists with the one other people live in. And as much as we would like the world to be black and white, it's not. The world isn't made up of good guys and demons. Sometimes there are hard decisions to make and we're not gonna like the choices we make."

"But they'll be the right ones," Giles said softly. "The both of you are smart girls. You'll make your own light shine, even through the darkness. I have faith in that."


	4. First Date

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: First Date

Stepping into the Bronze, Aria smoothed down her pale blue skirt as she looked around for Jesse, moving her way through the club to try and find him. Buffy had gone over to Angel's right before she'd left, to talk to him so they could work through their stuff. Aria hoped that they did; it would be a shame that her two best friends were no longer speaking.

Moving around a couple that was making out on one of the tables, Aria suddenly saw Jesse sitting at one of the booths, a drink already in hand as he waited for her.

He looked even handsomer than usual. His brown-blonde hair was still set in his messy fashion that was an art form all on its own, but Aria loved the way that it looked on him. He wore his traditional leather jacket, but wore a nice shirt underneath and a pair of nice slacks.

Almost as though he sensed her coming, Jesse looked up and his blue-grey eyes immediately found her. He smiled as he stood up. "Glad you made it," he said, taking her hand.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late, I lost track of the time," she apologised. He shook his head as he led her back to the table.

"No worries, I actually just got here," he said with a grin. She chuckled as he took the seat across from her. "You look great," he told her honestly. "And that's almost insulting you, even."

Aria turned a violent shade of red and looked down. "I'm sorry, I . . . I'm not used to this," she said quickly, not sure what to say. Buffy had given her some 'dating do's and don'ts', but she completely forgot them. Just by the way that Jesse was looking at her made every word come out in moron.

"Not used to what?"

"Dating," she confessed, hoping that no one was listening to the two of them. "Boys and dating. Those were usually . . . not mixed with me. I barely even stayed in one school long enough to make any real friends, let alone date guys."

"Well, there's a first for everything." Jesse offered his hand. "Come on, let's go dance. Unless you object to dancing?" he added, raising an eyebrow.

She shook her head, taking his hand. "No, dancing's good." _Please don't let me trip over my feet,_ she thought desperately to whatever higher power might be listening as he led her out onto the dance floor. Aria let out a slow breath of relief as a slow song started to play.

Jesse smiled as he guided her hand, placing it around his neck as he took her free hand, leading her in the dance as they stood close together, moving as one. Aria raised her head to look at him, terrified and enthralled at the way that he made her feel, as though she were everywhere at once, yet bound in a tiny human form.

"Where did you come from?" she whispered, staring up at him. "How did you find me?" Jesse only grinned as he twirled her.

"No one found you," he replied simply. "You found us. You guided us to you with this . . . beautiful light that comes shining from your heart. It was so bright and filled with love that we couldn't help but follow. And it led us to you."

Aria looked up at him before hesitantly laying her head onto his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart, closing her eyes at the sound. From his expression, he didn't seem to mind, just laid his head only hers, inhaling her scent as they slowly swayed together.

"Who are you?" she finally asked, looking up at him. "What do you really know about me?"

"All I know is that you're one of the most beautiful girls that I've ever laid eyes on," Jesse said honestly, shrugging as they continued to sway together. "And I know that you can take care of yourself and to be honest, that only makes me like you all the more." Aria blushed, lowering her gaze so that she was looking at his chest. "You've been pretty lonely, haven't you? You said that you went through a lot of foster homes. It must've been pretty lonely for you."

Aria looked down; it had been lonely for her. Usually, she hadn't been in one place long enough to make any friends and if she did, then she wasn't able to stay in contact with them. The few friends that she did, they had their own lives and couldn't really stay in touch with her for very long, especially since they lived so far away.

"It's not so bad, since I got to Sunnydale," she said softly. "It's been a lot better, since I came here. For the first time in my life, I feel like I belong somewhere, like I have a home."

"I'm glad." He looked up as the song came to a close and they pulled apart. "You wanna get out of here?"

She nodded and he took her hand, leading her out of the club. "Come on, I want to show you my favourite place in the world."

"Where's that?"

"You'll just have to wait and see," he answered with a shrug. Aria shook her head in delight as she followed him out of the club, heading out towards the parking lot, where she saw the same Harley that Willow had pointed out to her before sitting. She stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Uh . . . I can't ride that," she said, shaking her head. "I'll die."

"You really think I would let you fall?" Jesse wanted to know as he tossed her a free helmet. She caught it, still hesitant. "Come on, you need to have a little more faith. Aria, I promise, I will never let you fall. There's no chance of that. I'd never let you go."

Maybe it was the way that he phrased it or the way the way that said it, but Aria reluctantly slipped the helmet on, buckling it before she climbed onto the motorcycle behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"All right, hold on tight," he instructed her as he gunned the motor. She shrieked as it roared to life and he gave a loud whoop as he put his foot on the gas, heading out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Aria laughed as her hair flew out from behind her and she watched the streets of Sunnydale fly by.

Jesse expertly navigated the streets, even though he, like her, was still a newcomer to this town, finally pulling into a sideway park, shutting off the engine and pulling his helmet off. Aria followed suit as she shook out her long mane, wondering where they were.

Taking her hand, Jesse led her through a lone path, the quiet woods whispering softly to one another as the two teenagers walked together. Aria laced their fingers together and Jesse tightened his grip on hers.

"Where are we going?" she wanted to know.

"You'll see soon enough," he replied.

Aria smiled, shaking her head as she glanced sideways at him. "Are you always this secretive?" she asked. He laughed as he helped her step over one of the roots that were growing right out of the path, probably tripping most people, giving her a small, enigmatic grin.

"I was actually going for mysterious," he said seriously. "This place is my favourite spot in the world. It's the one place that I can go here and be alone."

Aria frowned; if that was why he liked it, then why was he showing this place to her? "So why show me?" she asked now.

Jesse glanced at her. "I don't mind being alone with you," he answered, shrugging. Aria looked down, suddenly shy. It was just now dawning on her that she was in the middle of the woods with a boy that she had just met. Oh, she was in trouble.

"Here we go," Jesse said softly, suddenly stopping. Aria frowned, looking around them before looking back at him. "Now here. Just close your eyes," he instructed her. "Close them," he added. Aria, with a small smile, closed her eyes, allowing him to lead her past a few more trees and then she caught the smell of . . . water?

Spring water, she thought, and she could hear the sound of a small waterfall as he guided her, finally stopping her. "Now can I look?"

"Yes. Now." He sounded thrilled and she opened her eyes, gasping at the sight that met her eyes.

She was standing in a small clearing, where a crystal clear lake stood, so clear that she could see the pebbles at the bottom sparking like diamonds. There was a waterfall flowing in from the side, coming from a creek that led into the trees.

The trees all stood around them, not looming and threatening, but protecting them from any evil that might try and disturb their peace. Aria just stood there staring for a few minutes, before turning to look at Jesse, who was just standing there, watching her.

"It's _beautiful_," she breathed, incredulous. "What is this place?"

"Right outside the woods," Jesse answered with a shrug. "There's a path that leads straight to it, but for some reason, I haven't found anybody who comes here." He moved closer to her, taking her hand quietly. "You're the first person I've brought here, so as far as I know, we're the only two people who know about this place."

Aria turned to look at him. "Why show me? I mean . . . there are a thousand other girls who I'm sure would. . . . Why me?" she wanted to know.

"Because you're different," Jesse said, looking at her and cupping her face tenderly. "Because I feel this strange connection to you that I can't explain. It's . . ." He sighed. "It's like you've captured me in your spell. You've bewitched me, Aria Sawyer." He smiled as he pressed his forehead against hers.

Aria shivered as she felt a thousand emotions explode through her as she felt his body against hers, but it was more than that. It felt like there was this sudden click and she was suddenly complete and whole. She shivered again, this time wondering if she could involve him in her world.

Buffy had told her about the number of normal guys she had tried dating and that only ended up in tears. She eventually realised that they were in too much danger with her being the Slayer and had eventually ended up with Angel.

Could she expose Jesse to those same risks? Granted, he had fought well enough against her last night, but still . . . was it a risk she was willing to take?

Or was it not her decision? What if he was willing to take that risk? Aria didn't want to get him involved in the supernatural world, would rather let him live in that blissful ignorance and probably lead a much happier life, but she knew that people didn't choose this life. It chose them.

Aria looked up at him. "You don't want to get involved with me, Jesse," she whispered brokenly, almost pleadingly. "You really don't. You don't want to see my world."

"Maybe I want to take the risk," Jesse replied. And it was in that moment that Aria knew that she, too, was willing to take the risks. Living without love was no life at all. It was just empty and broken and it only took true love to mend the pieces.

Jesse moved closer to her and Aria couldn't tear her gaze from him as he bent over her. The next moment, she felt his arms wrapping themselves around her. She closed her eyes as his lips captured hers in a soft, gentle kiss that nonetheless was filled with passion and fervour.

In that moment in the woods, in that deep, secluded spot, nothing else seemed to matter. It was as though they were the only two people in the world.

--

"He kissed you?"

"Yeah," Aria answered as she lay on her stomach on Buffy's bed while the senior Slayer was brushing out her hair. "It was so amazing. I . . . it was everything that I've always dreamed about. Fireworks . . . it was like the Fourth of July. And he made me feel . . ." Aria shook her head, laughing. "Oh, god, I can't even describe it. It was perfect."

Buffy looked at her, suddenly grinning. "That was your first, wasn't it?"

Aria blushed violently and Buffy chuckled, coming over to sit down on the bed next to her, and she sat up, pulling her legs underneath her. "Well . . . I mean, this is crazy, right? I just met him, I shouldn't be feeling all of this stuff just yet. This is crazy, isn't it?"

"No," Buffy answered, shaking her head. "It was like that with Angel. I mean, yeah, I tried to ignore it at first, but the second that I saw him, I was hooked. And I couldn't pull myself away."

"Animal attraction," Aria mused. "Maybe. But still . . . I barely even know him." She shook her head. "And every time I talk to him, I just start talking like a moron."

Buffy shook her head. "Once your heart gets involved, it all comes out in moron, sis."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. So did you guys talk about seeing each other again?" Buffy wanted to know.

Aria couldn't help but grinning as she remembered his parting words as he dropped her off at her house on his Harley. "Yeah, he's going to meet me at the theatre on Friday. Providing there are no evil forces threatening to take over the hellmouth or destroy the world."

"And if they do, then we'll take care of it. You just enjoy your night." Buffy smiled. "Jesse Bryant . . . wow. And he knows about this stuff, too? Vampires and demons and everything?"

"Yeah." Aria shook her head. Jesse had told her that he wasn't as ignorant as the rest of Sunnydale. He knew full well what went on after dark and had killed a couple of vampires himself.

"Does he know?"

Aria shook her head. "I debated telling him, but I mean, I think that we really need to know each other a little bit better before I tell him about the whole Slayer thing. He knows that I'm a little bit stronger than most girls, but that's all he needs to know right now."

"Good point. Plus, Giles would probably kill you if you went around telling everyone that you know."

"Everyone I know pretty much knows. You, Willow, Xander, Giles, Angel . . . the only one who doesn't know is Jesse." Aria leaned back on the bed again. "Did anybody in L.A. know that you were the Slayer?"

"No," Buffy said as she leaned back with Aria. "It was pretty much me and my Watcher Merrick. And then he got killed by some vampires. Sorry, which I could help you with this, but . . ."

Aria only looked at her sister. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I think that this is something that I need to do on my own. No offence, but you're not me and Jesse's different than any boy I've ever met. This is one of those things where I have to learn on my own and then take a leap of faith."

"Sometimes, you land on your feet."

"Here's hoping, anyway."

Aria sat up as Joyce came into the room, telling them that it was late and they needed to get to bed. After saying goodnight to Buffy, Aria headed into her own room, picking up her sketchpad and sitting down on her bed, tracing images of her and Jesse's secret place, their personal solitude.

The one thing that she had turned to during her years of loneliness was art. She let herself be lost into it, thinking that maybe she would be able to escape the loneliness. The only thing that she managed to achieve, however, was high marks in art.

With a smile, Aria began drawing that beautiful clearing.


	5. The Dark Age I

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: The Dark Age I

Aria hoisted her bag higher onto her shoulder as she walked towards her sister and Willow, who were sitting on the bench outside of the school, talking. Since their first kiss in that clearing, which was perfect, Aria and Jesse had been talking a lot and hanging out a lot together, but she was still nervous about telling him about the big secret. Granted, he would probably handle it a lot better than most guys would, but she still worried.

"I'm in Florence, Italy, I've rented a scooter that's parked outside," Willow was saying as she approached. "I'm in a little restaurant eating ziti and there are no more tables left, so they have to seat this guy with me and it's John Cusack!"

"Oh! Very impressive," Buffy complimented her. "You have such an eye for detail."

"'Cause with the ziti," Willow agreed as Aria joined them at the bench.

"What are you two talking about?" she wanted to know as Buffy moved to make room for her.

"Having a quick game of 'Anywhere but Here,'" Buffy explained. "Want to play?"

"Sure. Uh . . . let's see." Aria thought, leaning her head back. "I'm in Ireland and I'm sitting at one of those really old castles and all of us are there having a picnic out front."

Buffy actually raised an eyebrow. "What, you can't think of a single hot actor that you'd like to have eating lunch with you or giving you a massage?" she wanted to know. Aria shrugged and looked down at where her hands were before looking back at her sister.

"Well, I know one thing. There's nowhere I'd rather be than with my friends. You guys gave me a home, friends, and family for the first time in my life. I'd never give that away."

"That's nice," Willow said, smiling. "Hey, Xander."

"What are you three up to?" Xander wanted to as he fell into place with the rest of them.

"Having a quick game of 'Anywhere but Here,'" Buffy explained.

"Ooh! Amy Yip at the waterslide park," he answered immediately, causing Aria to raise her eyebrows while Buffy and Willow exchanged disappointed looks with one another.

"You never come up with anything new."

"I'm just not fickle like you three, okay? I'm constant in my affections. Amy Yip at the waterslide park!"

"Hey, there's Giles," Aria said, nodding towards the librarian as he was heading towards them. "Maybe he's got some unknown evil coming our way."

"Didn't anybody ever tell you to be careful what you wish for?" Buffy groaned. Aria chuckled.

"Oh, come on, it's not all bad. We're protectors of the innocent. We kill the big bad and people get to go on living their lives. Where's the bad in that?"

"Do you think Giles ever played 'Anywhere but Here' when he was in school?" Willow wanted to know.

"Giles lived for school," Xander told her as the Watcher headed in the direction, having spotted them due to Buffy calling him. "He's actually still bitter that there's only twelve grades." Aria only shook her head as Buffy grinned, looking at her friends.

"He probably sat in math class thinking, 'There should be more math. This could be mathier.'"

"Oh, come on, guys, you know he could've been very wild he was a kid," Aria said, giving them looks.

"Giles?" Buffy repeated. "Are you kidding? His diapers were tweed." Aria rolled her eyes as Giles finally reached them. "Morning. Say, is that tweed?" she asked, indicating his jacket.

Aria gave her a look as Giles looked distracted. "What? Oh, uh . . . yes. Now look, tonight is very important." He motioned them to follow him and they headed inside.

"What's going on tonight, Giles?" Aria asked.

"Uprising?" Buffy suggested as they headed towards the library. "Prophesised ritual? Preordained death fest?"

"The old standards," Xander agreed.

"A medical transport is delivering the monthly supply of blood to the hospital," Giles answered.

"Vampires meals-on-wheels," Buffy observed as they stopped at her locker.

"Hopefully not," Giles replied. "We'll meet outside the hospital at 8:30 sharp. I'll bring the weaponry."

"I'll bring the party mix!"

"Just don't be late."

"Have I ever let you down?"

"Do you want me to answer that or shall I just glare?" Giles queried and Aria smiled wryly.

"Don't worry, Giles, I'll get her there," she assured her Watcher and Buffy turned to glare at her.

"You're supposed to be on my side," she complained as Ms. Calendar walked up to them, giving Giles a bright smile.

"Morning, England," she said. Immediately, Giles started to stutter and stumble over words. Aria managed, just barely, to keep her face neutral as she fought a small smile at the two teachers' obvious attraction to one another. "Willow, we still on for tomorrow?"

"What's tomorrow?" Xander wanted to know as Willow nodded eagerly.

"I'm reviewing some computer basics for the couple of students who have fallen behind," Ms. Calendar explained. "Willow's helping out for extra credit. Aria, I thought this would be a good time for you to get caught up as well," she added to the brunette Slayer.

Aria nodded, knowing that she was struggling in computer class. She hadn't had one at her last school. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll be there."

"Poor girl, having to attend school on Saturday with the rest of the schlubs," Xander said, chuckling.

"9 a.m. okay with you, Xander?" Ms. Calendar questioned, causing the dark-haired boy's smile to vanish.

"Got a bit of schlub on your shoe there," Buffy told him.

"Cordelia's gonna meet us," Ms. Calendar added, causing Aria to groan slightly, making a face. She had only met the cheerleader a handful of times, but every time reminded her of why exactly she had wanted to transfer schools almost the second that she arrived at a new school. At least, until she arrived in Sunnydale and made real friends.

"Ooh, gang, did you hear that?" Xander questioned sarcastically. "A bonus day of class plus Cordelia! Mix in a little rectal surgery and it's my best day ever!"

Giles and Ms. Calendar looked at him before she turned to the librarian. "Walk me to class?"

"Pleasure."

"Look at them," Buffy said as the two teachers walked away from the teenagers.

"A twosomes of cuteness," Xander agreed.

"Can't you just imagine them getting together?" Willow asked excitedly.

"Don't go there," Aria told her as all of their expressions changed. "Really, don't go there."

"Well, speaking of twosomes," Buffy said, glancing behind her. "We'll see you in class." Aria blinked in confusion and Buffy only smiled wildly at someone behind her. "Hi, Jesse."

"Hi," Jesse said as he joined them. "Nice seeing you," he added as Buffy pushed Willow and Xander ahead of her, leaving the two of them alone. "So what you got planned for tonight?"

"Oh, the usual," Aria answered, shrugging. "Truck delivering blood at the hospital, so we'll be there, taking care of it."

"That's my girl."

Aria smiled as he took her head, lacing their fingers together and she looked up at him. It was amazing how comfortable she felt with him after only knowing him a few weeks, but . . . she still wasn't sure whether or not he was safer not knowing her secret.

"You know, we can still hang out after school. I don't have to meet Buffy and Giles until 8:30."

Jesse grinned, but sighed. "Wish I could, but, uh . . . my dad's got to work and there's no one to watch my little brother."

"You've got a brother?"

He nodded as they started walking together. "Yeah, Jake. And he's only eight, so he can't really stay home by himself." Aria nodded in understanding as she turned to look at him.

"Well, would your parents mind if someone came over and helped you baby-sit?" she asked, giving him a smile. "'Cause, you know, I have watched kids before. There were lots of kids at the shelter."

Jesse turned to look at her, surprised. "You'd want to spend the entire afternoon, helping me baby-sit my kid brother?" he asked curiously. "That's your idea of fun?"

"I like spending time with you," Aria admitted, looking down. "So yeah, I'd like to help you baby-sit. It'll be fun."

He considered this, and then nodded. "All right, it's a date. I'll call my dad later and tell him. He won't mind."

"What about your mom?" Aria realised that, in all of the time they spent together, he never really mentioned his parents or any family members, not until now.

A dark look crossed Jesse's face and he looked away from her for a minute, shoving his hands into his leather jacket. "That's, um . . . that's a little bit complicated," he said without looking at her. Aria frowned as he shifted his bag higher onto his shoulder. "I'll see you after school."

"Okay," Aria said, bewildered. "See you." She watched him go, frowning as he walked away hurriedly. She shook her head, making a mental note to ask one of her friends about it later as she headed for class.

--

As promised, Jesse met her after school and they started walking to his house. If he still remembered their discussion earlier about his mother, he made no mention of it. Aria had asked Buffy, Willow, and Xander, but none of them knew much about Jesse, so they were of no help.

"Well, just so you know, my little brother's kind of a girl-magnet, so he's probably going to try and steal you away from me," Jesse said, grinning at her. Aria laughed.

"All right, well, I'll try not to be tempted by an eight-year-old," she said as they reached his house. It was a cottage made of bricks and there were blue curtains over the windows, drawn aside and letting in the daylight. "Wow," she said, gasping a little. "This is your house? It's beautiful!"

"Thanks, it was my aunt's and she left it to Dad, so when Dad's company transferred him here, we decided to just live here." Jesse took her hand and led her inside.

"Jesse-boy, that you?" a man called the minute that they entered the house.

"Yeah, it's me!" Jesse called back. "My dad," he explained to Aria.

A man that looked like an older version of Jesse appeared in the doorway and he stopped the minute that he saw Aria. "So you must be the girl that my son won't stop talking about," he said, smiling at her. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Jonathan Bryant."

"How do you do?" Aria said politely, accepting his offered hand. "I'm Aria Sawyer."

"Yeah, I know. You look just like he described. This knucklehead here hasn't talked about anything else since he met you. All I hear about nowadays is 'Aria this' and 'Aria that' and 'Aria has the most beautiful—'"

"Dad!" Jesse said, looking highly embarrassed. "Do you mind?"

Aria blushed, looking sideways at him and Jesse shook his head. "He's exaggerating," he insisted to her.

"Mm-hmm. Maybe just a little . . . no, he talks about you all the time," Mr. Bryant said, causing Jesse to shake his head in annoyance at his father while Aria chuckled. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Aria. I apologise for any mischief that my younger son might cause you. Jess, the numbers are by the phone if you need anything and there's money for pizza. Hate to just run, but I'm gonna be late."

"Yeah, so what else is new?" Jesse muttered, shaking his head at his father as he hurried out the door. "Dad, don't forget your bag!"

Mr. Bryant stopped and went back to grab it before heading back out the door again. Jesse looked at Aria.

"If his head wasn't attached to his shoulders, then he'd forget that too," he said as he led her into the kitchen. "Jake won't be home for a couple hours, so we got the place to ourselves for a bit." He paused. "Want to watch some TV?"

Aria shrugged. "Sure, sounds good."


	6. The Dark Age II

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Six: The Dark Age II

A couple of hours later, Aria was sitting at the kitchen table with Jesse and his little brother Jake playing Candyland. And as had been happening for the last couple of games, Jake was beating both of them badly.

"I've got an idea," Jake said as he moved his pawn a few spaces forward. "Next time, let's play for money." Jesse snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Not a chance, little brother, I'm wiped out," he replied.

"Dad just gave you some money," Jake countered.

"Yeah, and I went on a 'blow all my money on dumb stuff' kick," Jesse told him. "Forget it; I don't have any cash." Jake made a face and Aria smothered a giggle behind her hand. "Anybody ready for pizza?" he asked. "All right, I'm gonna go order it. Don't rearrange any cards while I'm gone," he added, eyeing his brother carefully.

Jake rolled his eyes as Jesse got up to go into the next room and order the pizza. "So why are you doing with my brother, anyway? You're too pretty to be seen with Jesse."

"I like his smile," Aria said, shrugging. "So you guys just moved here at the beginning of the school year, right? You like it so far?"

"It's all right," Jake said with a shrug. "Anyway, we had to move here. Dad said so."

"Yeah, that's what Jesse said. He got transferred or something."

Giving her an incredulous look, Jake shook his head. "No way. Dad doesn't get transferred, not unless he wants to. Nah, he asked to be transferred somewhere—anywhere—else because he didn't want to be in the same town where Mom died."

Aria's breath caught in her throat at that revelation. "What?" she said softly, staring at the little boy, who was playing with his cards. "Your . . . your mom died?"

"Uh-huh. A couple of months ago, during the summer. She was a nurse and one night, she got stuck working the graveyard shift, so she was late getting home. Mom was about halfway home when they got her."

"Who?"

"Dunno. The bad guys. Dad says that it was really bad and they wouldn't let anybody see her at the funeral. She was really pretty, though." Aria forced a smile on her face at the thought. "Jesse doesn't like to talk about it. He says that whatever got Mom wasn't human, but Dad thinks that's just crazy. Says that Jesse's spends too much time by himself, makes him think that monsters are real."

Aria didn't know what to think of this, but she glanced towards the kitchen where Jesse was ordering the pizza, a lump forming in her throat.

And suddenly, she was starting to realise just why exactly Jesse knew about vampires and demons and everything else that went on in Sunnydale. She had wondered how he knew, but it had never really come up until now.

Biting her lip, Aria glanced back towards the board as Jesse came back into the room. "All right, little brother, you better not have stolen my girl away from me," he said sternly.

"She's too good for you," Jake said, rolling his eyes. Jesse made a face at his brother before giving a sideways look at Aria, grinning at her. She smiled and shook her head at the two brothers' antics. The talk with Jesse could wait until later, she decided.

It wasn't until after seven that Jesse sent Jake off to play with video games before he would be sent to bed. Aria had called Buffy earlier and asked her if she and Giles would be able to handle the hospital delivery by themselves.

"Sure, it won't be a problem," Buffy answered. "But why? What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Aria assured her. "I just . . . I need to talk to Jesse about some stuff. Just tell Giles that something came up. I promise that I will make it up to you at a later date."

"I'll hold you to that."

Aria was cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen when Jesse came back in, watching her curiously. "You don't have to do that," he said. "Mostly, we just let it pile up until it hits the ceiling or we run out of clean plates."

"It's a wonder the health department hasn't come knocking on your door," Aria said, shaking her head. Jesse laughed, but walked over to help her. "So . . . your brother said some stuff earlier."

"Yeah, figured as much," Jesse said. Aria looked at him and saw that he was grinning. "I swear, that kid is annoying. If I ever got a piercing, then he'd have to get one too. I love that kid to pieces, but sometimes, I wish he would stop imitating me."

"Jesse . . ." Aria touched his shoulder and he looked at her, startled by the seriousness in her face. "He said some stuff . . . about your mother."

For a minute, Jesse didn't move, just stared at her with a sort of blank look on his face. Then he wiped his hands on the towel before throwing it down on the counter and looking out the window with a sort of determination, refusing to look at her.

"Look at me, Jesse," Aria whispered, touching his arm again. "Look at me," she repeated and he reluctantly pulled his gaze away from the window to look at her. "What happened?"

"I . . ." Jesse couldn't finish and he pulled away from her. "Does it really matter?" he whispered.

"Yes. To me and to you. Jesse, from what Jake told me, this didn't seem like it was normal. And this isn't somebody who thinks that monster belong in fairy tales, remember? This is me, Jess. And you and I both know what's out there." Jesse turned around to look at Aria again, his blue-grey eyes expressionless. "What happened?"

Slowly, Jesse sank down onto the floor, leaning against the cabinets and Aria walked over to him, sitting down right next to him and they laced their fingers together as she looked at him.

"What happened?" she asked a third time when he didn't immediately say anything.

"Mom was working late at the hospital," Jesse finally said, his voice soft and shaking. Never once since she had met him had Aria heard his voice shake like that. She had never heard him sound so vulnerable. "She got the night shift sometimes and that was one of those nights.

"I was at the library, studying for a history test until it closed, then I went to the coffee shop until Dad called me and told me to get my butt home. That was about two o'clock in the morning, when Mom got off of her shift." Jesse took a deep breath, still not looking directly at her. "When I was on my way home from the coffee shop, I heard a scream coming from nearby. I went to go see what it was.

"The first thing that I saw was this . . . guy holding a woman down and he was bent over her neck. When he heard me, he looked up and that was the first time I saw a vampire. His face . . . his true face . . . I saw it and . . . I saw my mother underneath him.

"I can still hear his voice when he spoke. He said, 'First the mother, then the son. It's almost poetic.'" Jesse finally looked at Aria, who had tears in her eyes by this time. "I'll admit it, I was furious and I was blind and I almost got myself killed. I went after him and fought him, for all I was worth. If I didn't have a black belt in karate, I probably would've been killed.

"But I just barely managed to kick him backwards and he went into some wooden boxes. One of them was broken and the end was sticking up. It landed on his heart."

"And you killed him," Aria said softly. "He turned to dust, right in front of you."

"But not in time to save Mom," Jesse said quietly, rage in his voice. "Jake didn't tell you the worst of it, because he doesn't know. I didn't know what I know now. Even then, I didn't know exactly what that guy was. It was only afterwards that I began to discover the truth. But Mom . . . she had blood on her lips when I found her."

Aria's blood chilled and realisation set in. "You mean . . . he turned her?" she breathed.

"At the funeral, when she was in her grave, I stayed behind. I just . . . I felt like there was some reason why I needed to stay. And there was. I watched as my mother rose from her grave, a vampire. And she tried to kill me, tried to turn me too. But I . . ." For the first time since he had begun his story, Jesse's voice broke and he looked away.

"You staked her," Aria guessed.

"And I killed my mother," Jesse said bitterly. "I looked at her, when she was in vamp face, and I didn't hesitate. I just knew that . . . if I let her go, then people would pay the price for that hesitation. My dad, my brother . . . and all the people I cared about. And in so doing, I killed my mother." He sighed as he leaned his head back.

"No," Aria insisted. "Jess, that's the thing about vampires. It may look like you and may act like you, but it isn't you. When you become a vampire, you die and your soul is just gone and a demon sets up house in your corpse. That's what happens. You didn't kill your mother. You just killed the demon that looked like her."

Jesse sighed as he leaned his head back. "Ever since that happened, I've been trying to find some sort of reason why I'm still alive. Two vampires I fought and I killed both of them. What does that make me?"

Aria leaned over and kissed his cheek. "A champion," she whispered softly. "My champion." Jesse smiled wanly. "Do you really think your mother would've wanted you to live like this? So angry at yourself for surviving? Don't you think she would've wanted you to live?"

"Since I met you, it doesn't feel like this," Jesse admitted. "I . . . I feel like I have a reason, a purpose."

"We all have a reason." Aria shifted her position so that she was looking directly at him. "Jesse, no one chooses this life. It chooses us. We all have our reasons for wanting to fight the darkness." She guided his head to her. "Don't let your mom's death mean nothing. Be strong for her. And strong means fighting. It's hard and painful and every day, but it's what we were born to do. And we can do it together."

"Together," Jesse agreed softly, looking at her. And Aria knew, in that moment, that she could trust him. He had been sucked into her world not by her doing, but maybe she could save him from being lost to the darkness. He needed her.

And she needed him.

"How do you know about this stuff?" Jesse suddenly asked her. "How do you know about vampires?"

Aria smiled, leaning her head back. "So long as there have been vampires," she answered quietly. "There has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer."

She watched her love as he processed this. "So . . . you're this Slayer?" he asked slowly.

"No, that's Buffy," she answered, enjoying Jesse's expression. "My mother was a Slayer. She died when I was four. When one Slayer dies, the next one is Called. But my mother messed that up. She changed the lineage of the Slayers without realising it."

Jesse's eyes widened in realisation. "You have her powers, her strength, her skills. . . ."

"In everything but the way that I inherited them, I am a Slayer," Aria admitted. "But it wasn't until I moved here that I discovered the truth about who I was, what my mother was, and what was really out there. When I said that Buffy was my sister, I meant it. She and I are both Slayers. Except for blood, we are sisters."

Jesse smiled slightly as he took her hand, kissing it tenderly. "It's not going to be easy, will it?"

"We'll make it work," Aria said softly, laying her head on his chest. "Together. Now . . . shut up and kiss me," she instructed, causing Jesse to laugh.

"With pleasure," he answered, moving closer to her and kissing her tenderly until she had her arms wrapped around his neck and their kisses became much more heated and passionate.

"Ew! Gross!"

Aria and Jesse broke apart to find Jake standing in the doorway, looking revolted. "Do you guys have to do that?" he complained as he made his way over to the fridge. "I just came in to get a soda."

"Not a chance, buddy," Jesse said, swiping the Pepsi out of his hand. "It's almost eight-thirty and you should be getting ready for bed. You know that Pepsi makes you crazy."

"I think you mean hyper," Aria mused as Jake made a face and headed out of the kitchen.

"And speaking of the time, weren't you supposed to be somewhere right now?" he asked.

"Buffy and Giles can handle the blood drop off," Aria assured her. "I think you need me more right now."


	7. The Dark Age III

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Seven: The Dark Age III

It was still early the next morning when Aria got up and headed over to the school for the computer tutorial. She didn't bother to check in with Buffy because she was probably still sleeping from the late night duty and Aria didn't want to wake her. Pushing her hair away from her eyes, Aria took one of the computers by the window as she waited for everyone else to take their seats and Ms. Calendar began the tutorial.

"All right, guys," she began as Aria noticed a certain blonde in the hallway, heading straight towards them. What was Buffy doing here? "The first thing we're going to do is . . . Buffy?"

Xander, who was in the seat next to her, jerked awake at the sudden exclamation. "Huh? Did I fall asleep already?"

"Yep," Aria said, glancing at him. "Uh . . . Xander, you've got a little drool right there." She nodded at his chin and he hastily wiped it away, causing Cordelia to make a noise of disgust.

"You miss your friends?" Willow asked, smiling.

"Sit here, Buff!" Xander offered, getting to his feet and gesturing towards the seat between him and Cordelia. "Demilitarise the zone between me and Cordelia!"

"Yeah and delouse him while you're at it," Cordelia grumbled. Aria shook her head, looking towards her sister.

"What's wrong?" she asked, immediately recognising the look that was written upon the senior Slayer's face. It was the one that said clearly that something was very wrong and possibly life-threatening or even apocalyptic. Or possibly both.

"Is there some crisis that requires instant action?" Xander asked hopefully. "Very far away from here?"

"It's Giles," Buffy answered.

"What about him?" Aria asked, alarmed. What could possibly have happened to their Watcher?

"He's all right, isn't he?" Ms. Calendar wanted to know, the concern written in her voice.

"I don't know," Buffy admitted. "He didn't show up when he was supposed to last night and then, when I went over to his place, he was acting . . . well, very anti-Giles. He wouldn't let me in and he looked really bad. I—I think he might've been . . . I think he was drinking."

"_Giles?!_" Aria said incredulously. She couldn't imagine the Watcher drinking anything that could possibly be served at a bar.

"He was home alone drinking?" Ms. Calendar sought to confirm and Buffy nodded.

"But . . . tea, right?"

Buffy looked sideways at Willow, shaking her head. "It wasn't tea, Will," she answered.

"Yeah, I knew this would happen," Xander said, not looking worried. "Nobody can be wound as straight and narrow as Giles without a dark side erupting. My Uncle Rory was the stodgiest taxidermist you've ever met by day. By night, it was booze, whores, and fur flying." He paused. "Were there whores?"

"He was alone," Buffy told him.

"Give it time."

"Xander," Aria said warningly as she stood up, walking over to her sister. "But why Giles be acting like that? I mean, the last time I saw him, he was perfectly normal, perfectly Giles."

"Yeah, he seemed perfectly normal yesterday when I saw him talking to the police," Cordelia agreed without looking up.

Aria turned around to look at her, eyebrows raised. Buffy folded her arms across her chest.

"And you waited until now to tell us this because . . .?"

"I didn't think it was important?" Cordelia asked, finally looking up at the two Slayers.

"Giles talking to some police doesn't strike you as important?" Aria demanded, glaring at the cheerleader. "You didn't think, 'hey, maybe he might be in some trouble and I should maybe tell somebody so they can help him'?"

"Nope."

"We understand," Xander said sarcastically. "It wasn't about you."

"What were the police talking to him about?" Ms. Calendar asked, joining the two Slayers as they stood side-by-side, glaring at Cordelia.

"Oh! Don't tell me, I know this one!" Cordelia scrunched up her face in concentration. "It was . . . something about . . . a homicide."

"A homicide?" Aria echoed.

"That's it," Buffy said, heading out the door. "I'm calling him right now."

"Yeah, I'm coming with you," Aria said flatly as she followed her sister out of the door, heading straight down the hall towards the library. Buffy was already there, reaching for the phone when Aria heard a noise coming from the stacks and she looked at Buffy meaningfully. The senior Slayer nodded and they split up, heading in different directions to cut the intruder off.

Aria turned the second that she heard a bookcase fall over. "Buffy!" she yelled, racing towards the noise just as a man came running out, nearly colliding into her and she punched him, sending him to the ground as Buffy came around the corner.

"You've got a good arm, for a girl," he said dryly.

"Thanks," Aria said sarcastically as Buffy narrowed her eyes, recognition in her eyes.

"Hey, I know you!" she said angrily. Aria looked at her in surprise. "You were in that costume shop!"

"Costume shop?" Aria wanted to know. "What costume shop?"

"I'm so pleased you remember," the man said as he got to his feet, trying to escape, but Buffy blocked him.

"Hi, what costume shop?" Aria asked.

"He sold me a dress on Halloween and every costume that was bought there turned people into what they had dressed up as," Buffy explained to her. "I turned into an eighteenth-century noblewoman, Willow turned into a ghost, and Xander was a soldier. It nearly got all of killed."

"But you looked great," the man offered. Buffy glared at him and punched him.

"Man, I missed some stuff before I came here," Aria mused as the man straightened.

"So now we're even?"

"I'll let you know when we're even," Buffy assured him. "What are you doing here?"

"Snooping around," he replied.

"Well, I have to admit, we have to give him points for honesty," Aria said, looking at Buffy.

"Yeah, it's a nice touch," Buffy agreed.

"It's one of my virtues," he answered, then smiled. "Not really."

"I've got a great idea: why don't I just call the police, have you arrested for breaking and entering, and then I can get back to my fun Saturday?" Buffy suggested.

"And I can get back to getting caught up in school," Aria added. "Worst part about moving, you're always behind."

"Well, the police will have all those questions and they'll really need Rupert to answer them all," the man told them.

"You know Giles," Buffy said slowly.

"We go back," he answered. "Way back. You girls wouldn't happen to know where he is, do you?"

"And who would want to know?" Aria asked.

"Ethan Rayne," he said with a smile. "Go ahead and give him a call, see if he remembers. Ask him about the Mark of Eyghon."

Aria and Buffy exchanged a look and Aria shrugged. There was probably no harm and besides, if this guy could help with what was wrong with Giles, then she was willing to give him a chance.

Pushing Ethan into a chair, Aria sat watching him carefully with her arms crossed while Buffy dialled Giles' number on the library phone, waiting for him to answer. "Giles, it's me," she said into the phone when he picked up on the other end. "What's the Mark of Eyghon? Giles?" she added after a minute.

"Cat got his tongue?" Ethan asked smugly.

"I'm in your office with someone who claims to be an old friend of yours," Buffy said into the phone, ignoring him. "Ethan Rayne?" She paused, listening carefully. "No, I'm not going anywhere until you give me some answers!"

At that moment, a crash came through a window and Aria spun around, feeling Ethan jump up, pushing her in front of him like a shield.

"Oh, yeah, you've got the heart of a lion," she muttered darkly as a guy—or at least she thought it was, because he looked mutilated—came into the office, heading for Buffy, who kicked him back and jumped over the counter, joining Aria and Ethan.

"Ethan!" the man growled and he began to run as Xander came into the library, followed by the others.

"Stop him!" Aria yelled as she somersaulted over the man and yanked the cage door open. "Buffy, in here!"

Catching the hint, Buffy raced to her and the man gave pursuit until she dove out of the way, sending him into the cage and Aria shut the door. "Nice teamwork," she said, slapping her sister's palm. Meanwhile, Ethan was still lying on the floor where Cordelia had downed him. "Come on, let's get him."

"I'm not gonna get close enough to feel his pulse," Willow said when they had Ethan in a chair. "But he looks dead."

"Except for the walking and attacking two Slayers part," Xander pointed out dryly.

"He's dead," Ethan confirmed. "Sorry, Philip. Really, I am."

Aria looked around as Giles came barging into the library. "Is everyone all right?"

"Super!" Cordelia answered, sounding pleased. "I kicked a guy!"

"Dead guy here interrupted our tutorial," Xander explained before he turned to the newly dubbed Philip. "Been meaning to thank you for that." He jumped back as Philip tried to tackle him, but the cage prevented that.

Giles stared at the man in the cage. "It can't be."

"Yes, it can," Ethan assured him. Aria glanced at him, then at Giles as he turned to look at Ethan. "Hello, Ripper."

"Ripper?" Aria whispered to Buffy, who shrugged, obviously as much in the dark as she was.

"I thought I told you to leave town," Giles said.

"You did," Ethan agreed. "I didn't. Shop's lease is paid until the end of the month."

Giles walked towards him, grabbing him by the hair and lifted him out of the chair. Aria gawked at him, astonished to see this side of Giles, a side she had never seen before. "You should have left when I told you," Giles said dangerously. The sound of it made Aria's blood go cold. "You put these people in danger. The people I care about."

"If you cared so much about them, why didn't _you_ leave town?" Ethan taunted him. Aria stared at the two men, confused. What was going on? "You've been having the dreams, I know. We both know what's coming."

"What dreams?" Buffy demanded. "What is going on here?"

Before anyone could explain, however, the cage door was thrown open by Philip, knocking Ms. Calendar unconscious. Aria and Buffy moved as one, fighting side-by-side as they tackled Philip, sending him back towards the cage before he tried to get up. Aria gasped as he shuddered and collapsed before slowly disintegrating into a puddle of slime.

"Now there's something that you don't see every day," Willow muttered.

"Unless you're us," Aria pointed out.

"Where's Ethan?" Buffy asked, looking around but the man had vanished in the chaos. "Where'd he go?" She vanished out of the library to find him as Ms. Calendar slowly regained consciousness.

"Careful," Giles instructed as he helped her to her feet. "Can you stand?"

"I think so."

"This is what happens when you have school on Saturday," Cordelia mused and Aria shot her a look before looking back at the two teachers. Giles was holding Ms. Calendar against him.

And as she looked at them, Aria could've sworn that she saw Ms. Calendar's eyes flashed green for a second before they returned to normal. But it happened so fast, that she thought she imagined it.


	8. The Dark Age IV

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Eight: The Dark Age IV

Aria was pacing back and forth as Buffy came back into the library, looking annoyed. "I lost Ethan," she said immediately. "Giles, what's going on?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," Aria murmured.

Giles, however, just looked at the Slayers. "It's complicated and quite frankly, it's private."

"Okay, I think it stops being private when that certain private attacks us in the library," Aria pointed out. "Giles, I get private, but when we're in just as much danger as you are right now, I think we need to know what's going on."

"Not to mention, you lost weekending in your apartment," Buffy added, staring their Watcher down.

"I wasn't . . . I was just trying to find a solution," Giles argued.

"Giles, share! What's the Mark of Eyghon?" Buffy demanded.

"This is not either of your battle!" Giles snapped, glaring at both of them. Aria blinked in amazement, astounded to hear him actually scolding her. "And as your Watcher, I am telling you unequivocally to stay out of it!" He helped Ms. Calendar to her feet. "I have to get Jenny home."

Staring at him as he helped the computer teacher out of the library, Aria turned back to the others. "Everybody in favour of actually listening to him?" No one answered. "Yeah, that's what I thought. So what's the plan?" she asked her sister.

"We've got work to do," Buffy said resolvedly as she turned to the redhead. "Will, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the Mark of Eyghon." Willow nodded as she stood up, but she had a slightly worried look.

"I'll try the Net, but 'Mark of Eyghon' sounds like Giles and his books sort of deal."

"Then we hit the books. Aria, can you help her?"

"No problem," Aria agreed as she went to join Willow in the stacks, picking up whatever books she thought might be helpful and began piling them on the table before diving into them as Buffy joined them. Xander and Cordelia, meanwhile, were going through Giles' personal files to see if they could find anything even remotely helpful.

It felt like hours to Aria before Willow finally started exclaiming, causing her to jump and the book she was reading fell to the ground. "I really hope you just found something and didn't just take ten years off my life for nothing," she told the redhead, who ignored her.

"It's not Egyptian, it's Etruscan, mistaken for Egyptian by the design pattern, but any fool can see it predates their iconology. Look, the Mark of Eyghon, worn by his initiates. 'Eyghon, also called the Sleepwalker, can only exist in this reality by possessing an unconscious host. Temporary possession imbues the host with a euphoric feeling of power.'"

"Yeah, but what about non-temporary?"

Willow looked back at the book. "'Unless the proper rituals are observed, the possession is permanent and Eyghon will be born from within the host."

"I'm guessing ew!" Cordelia muttered.

"Wait, hey listen. 'Once called, Eyghon can also take possession of the dead, but its demonic energy disintegrates the host and it must jump to the nearest dead or unconscious person to continue living,'" Willow continued to read from the book.

"I still don't get what this has to do with Giles," Buffy pointed out. Aria shook her head, just as confused as her sister was about what Giles was caught up in.

"I don't know about Giles, but ancient sects used to induce possession for bacchanals and—and orgies," Willow explained.

"Okay! Giles and orgies in the same sentence," Xander grumbled. "I could have lived without that one."

"Wait a second, back up," Aria said suddenly, awareness flooding through her. "The demon left the dead guy's body, he turned into a puddle. And there was no one dead for him to jump into, but there was—"

"Someone unconscious," Buffy completed her sentence. "Ms. Calendar."

"He's got her," Aria breathed. Buffy jumped to her feet and raced over to the phone, already dialling Giles' number to alert him as to what had occurred.

It only took a few minutes for them to discover that there was no answer at Ms. Calendar's and Giles' phone was apparently unplugged. And there was no doubt in Aria's mind who had unplugged it.

"I'll go over there, you stay here and help them figure out how to get the demon out of Ms. Calendar without killing her," Buffy told Aria as she picked up her jacket.

"Be careful," Aria warned her as Buffy headed out of the library, leaving Aria with Willow, Xander, and Cordelia.

Suppressing a sigh, Aria headed back over to the table to sit down and go through the books again, hoping desperately that they would be able to find something that would be of any help, but after about an hour, Aria was ready to give up.

"Okay, I'm starting to think that these books aren't going to be of any help," Aria said as she closed it, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "Have you found anything online, Will?"

The redhead shook her head as she stared at the screen. "We have to figure out how to kill this thing and we need to do it fast."

"Uh . . . 'hot lava?'" Xander suggested from a book he was reading.

"That's for a heretic," Willow told him.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, okay. Uh . . . oh! Oh! 'Bury a potato!' No, that's for warts," Xander said as he tossed the book aside. "Who writes this stuff?"

"Probably from guys who had way too much time on their hands and spent their time helping their friend the Slayer hunt demons," Aria said brightly, causing Cordelia to snort in laughter and Xander glared at her good-naturedly.

"I've got the solution right here," Cordelia said, nodding to the book she was reading. "'To kill a demon, cut off its head.'"

"Yeah, but that would also kill Ms. Calendar," Aria pointed out.

"Hey, she'll be the first headless computer teacher in school," Xander said. "You think anybody'll notice?"

"Do you know what you need, Xander, besides a year's supply of acne cream?" Cordelia asked sweetly. "A brain."

"Guys, come on," Aria said, trying to break up the fight that was inevitably brewing between them. "We've got bigger stuff to focus on."

Neither one of them was paying attention as Xander got to his feet, the anger radiating from him like a heat wave. "That's it! Twelve years of you and I'm snapping! I don't care if you are a girl or not, I'm throwing down! Come on!" he ordered.

"I've seen you fight," Cordelia said as she got to her feet. "And don't think I can't take you!"

"Give it your best shot!" he shot back.

"Guys, don't make me come over there!" Aria warned. "I could take both of you without even breaking a sweat and don't think that I won't."

"Aria's right," Willow said, getting to her feet and looking very angry. "We don't have time for this! Our friends are in trouble. Now, we have to put our heads together and—and get them out of it! And if you two aren't with us a hundred and ten percent, then GET OUT OF MY LIBRARY!"

It took all of Aria's willpower not to gawk at Willow's outburst, but she couldn't help but smile as Cordelia and Xander shrank back.

"We're sorry," Cordelia said weakly.

"We'll be good," Xander promised.

"Okay, now we've done the research. We just have to figure out how to use it," Willow mused as she sat back down.

"Oh, hey! Why don't we find another dead body for the demon to jump into?" Xander suggested.

"Yes! At the cemetery," Cordelia agreed.

"That won't kill the demon," Willow pointed out. "It'll just give it a change of scenery."

Aria sighed as she rubbed her hands over her head again, trying to think, and then she sat up suddenly, an idea forming in her head. "Angel," she said quickly. Everyone looked around at her, confused. "If we put the demon in danger, it'll jump into the nearest dead person, which would be Angel. Being a vampire, he's already dead. And he's already got a demon inside of him, so . . ."

"It would have nowhere to go to," Willow said brightly.

Aria jumped to her feet. "Okay, find out where they're at, I'll get Angel. Call me on my cell when you've got a location," she ordered as she raced out the door and heading towards Angel's apartment.

--

Aria arrived at Angel's apartment in record time and explained to him what was happening and her idea on how to stop it. Angel readily agreed.

"My demon's been waiting for a fight for a couple of hundred years," he said as they raced towards where Willow said that Ms. Calendar, Buffy, Ethan, and Giles were. "Pretty good idea."

"Well, when you're panicking and the people you care about are in danger, your brain tends to go into overdrive," Aria agreed as they raced around the corner and into the former costume shop. Angel raced through the door and tackled Ms. Calendar and began to choke her.

Aria raced over to Buffy, helping her up as Eyghon was forced to jump, right into Angel, who was thrown back against the wall and the demons began fighting for control of the body. After what felt like an eternity, Eyghon was thrown out of his body and Angel fell to the floor, Eyghon crumbling into ashes.

Racing over to her boyfriend, Buffy helped him up as Aria hurried over to them, making sure that he was all right.

Buffy looked around at Aria in understanding. "You knew that if the demon was in trouble, it was gonna jump into the nearest dead person."

"I put it in danger," Angel explained.

"And it jumped," Willow added.

"I've had a demon inside me for a couple of hundred years, just waiting for a good fight," Angel said as he stood up.

"Winner and still champion," Buffy said admiringly.

"You sure that you're okay?" Aria asked Angel, who nodded reassuringly at her.

"I'll be fine," he told her as the door opened again.

"Jeez, what happened here?" Jesse asked as he looked around the shop before looking at Aria curiously. She looked at Buffy, then at Jesse before she walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You know what?" she asked. "It's a long story. I'll tell it to you later," she promised as she took his hand, leading him out of the costume shop, smiling as she heard Angel and Buffy's voices follow them.

"She's got a boyfriend?" Angel was asking.

"She's got a boyfriend," Buffy confirmed. "My little sister's all grown up."

Jesse looked over their shoulders before looking at her. "So who was that guy in there?" he wanted to know.

"That's Angel, Buffy's boyfriend," Aria explained.

"Huh. So the rumours about her are true," he mused. "People around school kept saying that she was seeing an older guy. He go to UCSunnydale or something?"

"Or something," Aria said with a small smile. "So how was your night? It has got to have been better than mine."

"Yeah, I think that's probably true, mine was pretty boring," Jesse said as he laced their fingers together. "You up for some ice cream?"

"Always," Aria said with a laugh as they headed towards the ice cream parlour in town.

--

"You know what the worst thing is?" Buffy asked. "I was saving up for some very important shoes and now I have to blow my entire allowance to get this stupid tattoo removed. Let's just hope that my mom doesn't see it first."

"If she does, just tell her the truth, that some guy had you tied down and he tattooed you against your will," Aria suggested.

"Putting that demon into Angel was pretty brilliant, Aria," Xander complimented her.

"I didn't think that it was going to work at first," Aria admitted. "Thankfully it did. But that's not the best part about this whole thing. Jesse and I finally have no secrets between us."

"You finally told him?" Buffy asked, grinning wildly.

"Yeah, and he was almost relieved by it. I think he's glad that I'm able to take care of myself," Aria admitted. "And he asked me to be his girlfriend."

"All right, Aria!" Buffy cheered. "Way to go!"

Aria grinned, happier than she had been in a while, but still worried about their Watcher. "Well, we'd better go check on Giles," she said with a smile. "We're gonna be late for training."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Buffy laughed as she followed Aria, who only laughed as the two sisters headed for the library.


	9. What's My Line I

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Nine: What's My Line I

As she walked through the array of tables that were set up for the career fair, Aria grinned as she saw Jesse sitting at one of the lone tables. Picking up one of the tests and a pencil, she headed over to him, tapping him on the opposite shoulder as she walked past him. He glanced up, then turned his head towards her as she grinned at him, sliding into the seat next to him.

"Very funny," he said, giving her a smirk.

"I thought it was," Aria agreed as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Mind some company?"

"As long as the company involves a very beautiful Vampire Slayer who I would love to kiss right now," Jesse answered. Aria grinned as she leaned into the kiss.

"Careful, guys, Snyder's roaming around here someplace," Buffy said, popping up behind them. Aria glared at her sister, who smiled good-naturedly. "And no offence, Jess, but I've already got a boyfriend, whom I don't think he would appreciate you kissing me."

Jesse actually laughed. "Actually, I prefer brunettes," he said as Aria scowled at her sister.

"Well, then, I guess that narrows the selection down to one," Buffy acknowledged, her hazel eyes still twinkling with amusement. "I leave you and Romeo alone, Lady Juliet."

"Actually, you and Angel have that pretty much down," Aria pointed out. Buffy smiled, acknowledging this as she walked past them towards another table, where she was soon joined by Xander and Willow. "So, what kind of career do you think you're gonna end up with?"

"Well, I'm leaning towards either a mechanic or carpenter," Jesse answered, tousling his hair more than it usually was. "I don't know, I'm good with cars, so mechanic would probably be a better guess. What about you?"

Aria laughed. "Hey, we already my deal. I get to fight the bad guys and make the world a better place," she answered, shrugging. "The only problem with that is that I don't get paid for it. Hey, here's an idea," she suggested. "Maybe I could start a detective agency for supernatural cases."

"And charge people for saving their lives?" Jesse asked.

"Okay, it didn't sound like such a bad idea until you said that," Aria complained, going back to her test. Jesse chuckled. "But seriously, I'd have to ask Giles to be sure, but I don't know how many Slayers had actual careers. Most of them don't make it to eighteen."

"Okay, there's a good point," Jesse agreed. "But there's one thing that they didn't have that you do."

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"Me," Jesse said softly. Aria smiled and was about to lean forward to kiss him when she saw the principal heading into the lobby.

"Snyder," she warned him, ducking her head to look back down at her test. Jesse took the hint and continued to scribble in the circles. "Do I like shrubs? Who comes up with these tests?" she wanted to know.

"People with too much time on their hands," Jesse answered. "So . . . are you guys patrolling tonight?"

"Have to. Giles is being very strict about it nowadays."

"Well, in an effort to make the evening more enjoyable, I am offering my services to milady in an effort to help her to get rid of some vampires," Jesse said.

"Get rid of what?"

Aria jumped, not having noticed that the principal was standing right next to them. "Uh . . . umpires," she answered quickly. "I'm just getting sick of them. I mean, really, who needs umpires when they've got the entire stadium filled with people, who can tell exactly what happened down on the field?"

"Got to agree with her here," Jesse agreed. "So, that was a great game on Saturday, huh, Principal Snyder?"

The principal eyed them carefully before moving on. Aria let out a slow breath, shaking her head. "Okay, that was a little too close," she said in a low voice.

"No kidding."

Shaking her head, Aria brushed her hair out of her face. "So what were you saying about joining me tonight for an evening of turning people into dust?" she asked curiously.

"Just thought if the right offer came up, I could help them with my services," Jesse said with a grin at her.

"Well, I'm offering," Aria answered.

"Then I'm coming," Jesse said.

She grinned as she looked back down at her test, feeling the heat rise into her cheeks and her heart fluttering in her chest as it did every time that she was within fifty feet of her boyfriend's presence. It had only been a month since she had moved to Sunnydale, but in that time, she had found out more than just her mother's true identity. She had also found a home for the first time in her life, she had found a family, and she had also found a guy that she really thought that she could love.

"Okay, you're right, they do need to find somebody else to do these tests," Jesse agreed. He was staring down at his test in complete bewilderment. "What does it matter if I like flowers or not?"

"In case you should be a florist," Aria answered, glancing up at him. "Which, I think, means that you're crazy."

Jesse snorted as he went back to the test.

--

Aria giggled slightly as she and Jesse were kissing underneath one of the gravestones while they were searching for vampires to come out to play. "Okay, maybe this wasn't a good idea," she said. "Not that I'm not enjoying myself immensely, but I'm not going to get any work done when I'm too busy doing other stuff."

"You're right," Jesse agreed, pulling away and standing up, helping her to her feet. "And I said I was going to be a good boy, didn't I?"

"Yes, you promised to be a very good boy and so far, you're not holding up to your promise," Aria said, shaking her head. "If you keep doing this, then I'm going to have to become very cross."

Jesse grinned as they walked hand in hand through the cemetery. "So is it usually this dead in a cemetery?" he wanted to know. Aria gave him a look. "No pun intended."

"Not normally. Usually, there's at least one vamp or two that's hanging around here," Aria said, frowning. "I bet there's something going on. There's always something going around here and I'll bet you ten bucks that it has something to do with Spike."

"Who's Spike?"

"He's this vampire, the local big bad," Aria sighed. "He and his crazy girlfriend Drusilla have been hanging around here since before I got here and according to Buffy, have been causing a whole lot of trouble. And Angel says that we shouldn't really underestimate them."

"How does he know them?"

"Uh . . . well, he was the one who turned Drusilla into a vampire," Aria said distractedly. She heard Jesse stop dead in his tracks and she turned around to see his shocked look.

"Wait a minute, this Angel guy . . . Buffy's boyfriend . . . is a vampire?" he said incredulously.

"Did I not mention that?" Aria asked, racking her brains. She knew that she had been avoiding the subject, but she could have sworn that she had told him. Or maybe she hadn't.

"Uh . . . no, I'm pretty sure that I would remember something like that," Jesse said, almost angrily. "Is she completely out of her mind? Or are you? Have you completely lost your senses? You are aware of what vampires do, right? They kill people and they turn some of them and you know what those do? They kill more people so it's just a whole bunch of killing."

"Okay, calm down," Aria said, trying to soothe him by placing a gentle hand on his arm, but he brushed her off. "Hey, I know that you're upset right now, but will you just let me explain? Angel's different than other vampires, all right? He's got a soul," she added, beginning to get a bit angry herself at Jesse for acting like one of her best friends should just be turned into dust on account of who he was. Sure, he was a vampire, but it wasn't like he could help that fact. He hadn't chosen that path.

"What difference does that make?"

"It makes all the difference in the world," Aria insisted. "Jess, I told you that when you become a vampire, you lose your soul. Angel regained his a hundred years ago and hasn't hurt anybody since that day. I've never met the soulless version of him, but I know there's a big difference."

"It doesn't matter, he's still a vampire," Jesse shot back. "You are aware of what a Vampire Slayer does, right?"

"Oh, so help me, Jesse Bryant, I am not going to get into this argument with you," Aria shot back. "Angel is one of my best friends, okay? In fact, I wouldn't even be alive today if it wasn't for him. I never would have made it past the age of four."

"Whatever," Jesse snapped, turning on his heel and walking away from her. "Next time you see me, just don't talk to me."

"Jesse!" Aria yelled after him, but unfortunately, a vampire chose at that moment to sneak up behind her and she was forced to abandon her lovers' quarrel to deal with him and by the time that he was staked, her boyfriend had vanished into thin air.

Groaning with annoyance, Aria stomped off in the other direction, furious than she had ever been with him as she headed home, too upset to even try and continue patrolling.

Besides, even if she did, the vampires would stand no chance. The two that she met on the way back home proved that. Aria half-hoped that Spike would show up so that she could send him to Dustville and never have to deal with him again.

"Anybody home!" Aria called as she pushed open the door to her house. Joyce wouldn't be home; she had some sort of art thing in Los Angeles and they would be home by themselves for a few days. But she wasn't sure if Buffy was back from patrol just yet. "Buffy, you here?"

"Upstairs!" Buffy yelled back. Aria sighed in relief; she was in need of some major sisterly talk. Heading upstairs, she pushed open the door to Buffy's room, only to discover that she wasn't alone.

"Hey, Angel," she said with a smile at the ensouled vampire that she and her boyfriend had gotten in an argument over. She walked over to hug him. "How are you?"

"I'm all right, how are you?"

"Not bad," Aria answered before looking at her sister. "How did your patrol go?"

Buffy shrugged from where she was sitting on her bed. "It went fine," she said offhandedly. She peered at Aria carefully. "Are you okay? You look upset," she observed.

Aria shook her head, not about to explain what had happened in front of Angel. She didn't want him to feel guilty because she and Jesse had gotten into an argument over him.

"Don't worry about it," she said glumly. "Jesse and I just got into a fight, but it's nothing. We'll fix it. I hope," she added more quietly.

Angel chuckled before he looked towards his girlfriend with a smile. "Am I right in assuming that this is something that is a girls' only thing?" he questioned. Buffy grinned at him and he nodded. "All right, well, I'll see you Tuesday, then. Bye, Aria," he said, giving her another hug before he slipped out of the bedroom window and out of sight.

"What's Tuesday?" Aria asked once she and Buffy were alone.

"Angel and I are going ice-skating at this rink that's closed on Tuesdays," she answered happily. Aria was impressed; she knew that Buffy had once been an avid skater, but slaying and demons had gotten in the way of that. Angel certainly scored big points on that one. "But enough about me, what's going on with you and Jesse?" she asked, pulling Aria down onto the bed.

Suppressing a small sigh, Aria leaned her head back, staring up at the ceiling. "I sort of told Jesse about Angel being a vampire tonight," she said, shaking her head. "And he didn't exactly have the best reaction to it."

Buffy's expression turned grim. "_Oh_."

"Yeah."

"Well, what exactly did you guys say?" Buffy asked, turning on her side so she could look at Aria more carefully. "I mean, what did you say? What did he say? How bad was it?"

"I honestly don't know, because I've never exactly done this before," Aria said, looking at her sister. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this, Buffy. I mean, demons, slaying? That I can do. Art, I can do. You want me to draw you in the south of France? I can probably do that, given that I have some idea of what France looks like. But I'm not sure that the guy thing I'm cut out for. I'm no good at it."

"Okay, honey, you need to stop," Buffy ordered, sitting up straight. "Come on, sit up here." Aria obeyed and looked at her sister. "Listen to me, all right? You are good at the guy thing. I have watched you with Jesse and you do it right. You guys talk together and you're comfortable with each other. Sure, there was a little awkwardness the first couple of weeks, but that's only natural. Aria, you're sweet and kind and Jesse is completely head over heels for you."

Aria blushed, fighting the happy smile that spread across her face. "Really?" she asked.

"When you guys make up—and you will make up," she added almost threateningly, "I'll snap a picture of you guys together just so you can see the look on his face when you're not making love-struck eyes at him. You have got that boy under your spell, Aria. There's no other way to say it. And you're very well on your way to being hopelessly in love with him."

"Maybe," Aria said sadly. "But you weren't there tonight, Buffy. It was really bad and it was so ugly. He told me not even to talk to him the next time that I saw him and pretty much said that I should go and kill your boyfriend."

"Yeah, well, I tried to kill Angel after I found out the big secret," Buffy said reasonably. Aria laughed, shaking her head. "Look, just talk to him tomorrow and everything'll be fine. Trust me," she said reassuringly.

Releasing a sigh, Aria said, "If you say so. You're better at this than I am."

"Which I still can't figure out why you haven't had a boyfriend yet, because you should see the way that half the guys at school look at you when you're walking down the hall," Buffy told her.

"You're crazy," Aria said, throwing a pillow at her, which Buffy caught easily and threw it back at her, grinning wildly. "And you are my favourite sister ever."

"Give me a break," Buffy scoffed, but she was smiling. "I'm your only sister, Aria."

"Oh, I don't know about that, I've had a couple of foster sisters, does that in any way count?"

"Are you in any way in contact with them or know their phone numbers or even where they are now?" Buffy asked with a smile. Aria snorted, but shook her head. She had never stayed with any of her previous foster parents long enough to get to know any of her foster siblings. "Then, no, it definitely does not count. Come on, let's go watch a movie. And since you're currently the one who is in need of moping, then you get to pick."

"Oh, I need to fight with Jesse more often," Aria said, laughing.

"Just don't make it Star Wars again," Buffy begged her. "Please, I have seen that enough times that I want to slit my wrists. Just make it a silly, romantic, chick-flick for once, please."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Hey, Star Wars is a classic," she complained. "And there is some romance in it. I mean, who doesn't love Leia and Han?" Buffy gave her a look. "Fine, but it's gonna be Romeo and Juliet."

"That I can live with," Buffy said as she went to go make popcorn while Aria got the VCR set up.


	10. What's My Line II

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Ten: What's My Line II

Walking through the hallway with Willow and Buffy, Aria kept a lookout for Jesse, but either he hadn't come to school today or he was really good at hiding from her, because she hadn't even seen him once. Disappointment weighed down upon her and she shoved her hands into her pockets, trying to mask her hurt and distress as Buffy told Willow about her plans with Angel that night.

"You and Angel are going skating?" Willow asked, obviously impressed. "Alone?"

"Unless some unforeseen evil pops up," Buffy answered as they headed out onto the courtyard. "But I'm in 'see no evil' mode."

"Angel ice skating?"

"You never know," Aria pointed out. "He might have been quite a good skater back in . . . when was he turned?" she asked, turning to look at her sister.

"1753," Buffy answered at once.

"Right, back in the eighteenth century," Aria finished up. She looked at Willow. "Did they have ice-skating back then?"

"Definitely," Willow told her. "But still . . . I cannot picture Angel ice-skating."

"I know," Buffy agreed. "Two worlds collide."

As they were walking across the courtyard, Xander caught up with them, looking highly upset and anxious. "Wouldn't you three say you know me as well as anyone else?" he asked, falling into step with the girls. "Maybe even better than I know myself?"

"What's this about?" Willow asked as Aria finally spotted Jesse by the bulletin boards. But the second that he caught sight of her, a dark look passed over his face and he walked off in the opposite direction. Aria looked down, hurt, but turned away so nobody would see her expression.

"When you look at me, do you think prison guard?" Xander wanted to know, causing all three of them to burst into giggles and Aria had to cover her mouth to hide her amused smile.

"Uh . . . well, I'm not so sure about prison guard," Aria admitted, still fighting a smile. "Something like that, though . . ."

"Crossing guard, maybe," Buffy teased. "But not prison guard." Aria shook her head in agreement.

"They just put up the assignments for the career fair and according to my test results I can look forward to being gainfully employed in the growing field of corrections."

"You?" Aria deadpanned. Buffy laughed before she turned towards her best friend teasingly.

"Well, at least you'll be on the right side of the bars," she informed him. Willow laughed and Aria snorted while Xander gave her a friendly glare.

"Laugh now, missy," he said dangerously. "They assigned you to the booth for law enforcement professionals."

"As in police?" Buffy said, dismayed.

"Wow, and that was sort of the thing that I was going for," Aria mused. Buffy stared at her. "Well, more of a private investigator sort of thing, but I think that falls into the same category." Buffy continued to stare at her. "All right, I'll be quiet now."

"Well, I'll just jump off that bridge when I come to it," Buffy muttered darkly as Aria looked at Xander now.

"Did you check mine?"

"Also in law enforcement, but that came in second," Xander informed her. "You were also assigned the booth for artistic talents."

"Could have seen that one coming," Aria sighed as she shoved her hands into her pockets, glancing at her sister. "Come on, we need to check in with Giles. He wanted us to report to him right after homeroom, remember?"

"Right," Buffy sighed as they fell into step right next to one another, heading for the library. "Police . . ."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Aria said brightly. "How about, when we're finished with school, we start a detective agency that specialises in supernatural cases?" Buffy shook her head, amused. "What, I really think that it might be a good idea."

"It something about the charging people for saving them that's kind of getting to me," Buffy informed her.

"Well, yeah, I don't much like that idea either, but we're gonna have to make a living someway," Aria pointed out as they entered the library and Buffy caught a huge stack of books that Giles almost dumped over. "Hey, Giles, what are you doing?" she asked, staring up and down the rows of books that were stacked up across the table.

"Oh, I've, um . . . I've been indexing the Watcher diaries covering the last couple of centuries," Giles explained as he recovered from nearly toppling over the stack of books. "You would be amazed at how numbingly pompous and long-winded some of these Watchers were."

Aria fought down a smile, not about to saying anything, but Buffy grinned. "Colour me stunned," she said.

"So, I trust that last night's patrol was fruitful?"

"Mine was almost dead," Aria said as she sat down. "I mean, I only met up with a couple of vamps at that was only on the way home. It was really quiet, almost too quiet."

"I caught one out of two vamps after they stole something from this jump mausoleum," Buffy reported, causing Aria to look at her and Giles' head lifted up at this piece of information.

"They were stealing?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah! They had tools, flashlights, the whole nine yards," she answered before pausing. "What does that mean, anyway? 'Whole nine yards'? Nine yards of what?" she queried while Giles began to pace. "Now it's going to bug me all day. Giles, you're in pace mode," she observed. "What gives?"

"This, um . . . this vampire who escaped," Giles said, looking at her sharply. "Did you see what he took?"

Buff shook her head. "No, but I could take a guess and say it was something old," she replied.

"You made no effort to find out what was taken?"

"Have a cow, Giles! I just figured it was your everyday vamp hijinks," Buffy said offhandedly.

"I hate to agree with Giles, but last night was too quiet, Buffy," Aria put in, not unkindly. "And I've got this feeling in my gut that something's going on and if I had to take a guess, then I would put my money on something that Spike is doing."

"Aria's right, this could be very serious!" Giles scolded. "I mean, if you'd made an effort to be more thorough in your observations—"

"You know, if you don't like the way that I'm doing my job, then I don't have to do it!" Buffy shot back. "Aria can have the job, she's the one who actually signed up for it! But I didn't. I get this job until somebody else takes over! Well, there you go!" she added almost angrily. "I don't have to be the Slayer! I could be dead," she added bitterly.

"Buffy!" Aria said in anguish. She hated the thought of her sister lying in the ground, six feet under. Buffy was the only family that she had ever really known and she didn't want to lose her.

"That wasn't terribly funny," Giles said, his tone changing considerably. Instead of angry, it was distressed. "You notice I don't laugh."

"Wouldn't be much of a change," Buffy said quietly, examining her nails carefully. "Either way, I'm bored, constricted, I never get to shop, and my h air and fingernails still continue to grow. So, really, when you think about it, what's the diff?"

"Um . . . you're not lying six feet under?" Aria pointed out.

"Do we have to be introspective now?" Giles asked. "Our only concern is to discover what was stolen from that mausoleum last night."

"Well, then, I say that we take a field trip and go and find out," Aria said, getting to her feet and heading out the door. After a moment, Buffy got up and followed her with Giles in their wake.

--

As they headed through the cemetery with the sun bearing down upon them, Aria wondered what exactly was bothering her sister. Everything had seemed okay last night—granted, she acted like she had something on her mind, but she had acted normal. Now, she was in a full-blown Buffy mood that only came when something was bothering her and Aria, with her Slayer powers, was having trouble keeping up. Giles didn't stand a chance.

"Buffy! Slow down, please?" he begged her. Buffy didn't even look over her shoulder at their Watcher.

"Giles, we have work to do, remember?" she pointed out. "Get with the program." Aria stayed out of this as they continued walking towards the mausoleum that Buffy had allegedly been to last night.

"You're behaving remarkably immaturely," Giles said, still taking several deep breaths to regain his breathing.

"You know why? I am immature! I'm a teen, I have yet to mature."

"I was simply offering some constructive criticism," Giles said helplessly as Aria glanced up at the mausoleum, moving ahead of them so Buffy and Giles could talk, and slipped into the mausoleum, taking a look around her.

Immediately, she saw which vault the vamps had been breaking into; there was rubble on the floor underneath it and she saw a couple of vases inside of it. Frowning slightly, she proceeded to walk over to it and began going through it.

"What is this thing?" she asked, hearing the door open and the light from outside poured in.

"It's a reliquary," Giles explained, moving towards her. "Used to house items of religious significance. Most commonly a finger," he added as Aria moved her hand into the vault to check it out further, "or some other body part from a saint."

Aria immediately yanked her hand out. "You couldn't have mentioned that before I stuck my hand in there?" she asked, moving out of the way.

"You kill vampires and yet you have problems with body parts in vaults?" Giles questioned.

"Yes," Aria said, folding her arms across her chest. "Which is also the reason why I crossed working at a funeral home off of my list a long time ago. Along with being a mechanic," she added musingly.

"At least you've got a plan," Buffy said darkly as she leaned against the wall as Giles turned around, shining the light onto a plague hanging on top of the crypt.

"Du Lac," he read aloud. Aria glanced up towards the name, not recognising it. "Oh dear, oh dear."

"I hate when you say that," Buffy told him.

"Who's Du Lac?" Aria asked.

"Josephus du Lac was buried here," Giles explained. "He belonged to a religious sect that was . . . excommunicated by the Vatican at the turn of the century."

"Excommunicated _and_ send to Sunnydale," Buffy mused. "There's a guy big with the sinning."

"You remember that book that was stolen from the library by a vampire a few weeks ago?" Buffy nodded. "It was written by du Lac." He swore, causing Aria to stare at her Watcher in disbelief. She had never heard Giles curse before. "I let it slip my mind with all the excitement."

"I'm guessing it wasn't a 'Taste of the Vatican' cookbook."

"No," Giles answered as they headed out of the mausoleum. "The book was said to contain ritual and spells that reap unspeakable evil. However, it was written in archaic Latin so that nobody but the sect members could understand it."

"Okay, so if nobody outside of this religious cult could understand it, then what would be the point of stealing a book that they couldn't even read?" Aria asked slowly.

"Yes, and then breaking into du Lac's tomb and stealing something from it," Giles agreed. "This is no coincidence."

"You think they figured out how to read the book?" Buffy asked, now slightly worried.

"Something's coming, girls," Giles said immediately. "And whatever it is, I can guarantee it's not good."

--

"So Giles is sure that the vampire who stole his book is connected to the one you slayed last night?" Willow asked before frowning. "Or is it slew?" she added curiously.

"Both are correct," Giles informed her as he came out from where he had been burying himself in the stands for the past twenty minutes. "And yes, I'm sure. Du Lac was a theologian and a mathematician." He was holding open a book towards Willow. "This article describes an invention of his, which he called the Du Lac Cross."

"So why go to all the trouble of inventing something and then giving it a weak name like that?" Xander wanted to know. "I mean, I would have gone with the Cross-o-matic or the, uh . . . The Amazing Mr. Cross." Aria stared at him in amazement, shaking her head.

"What exactly did you have in your coffee this morning, Xander?" she questioned, arching her eyebrows.

"The Cross was more than a mere symbol," Giles told them, ignoring Xander now, "it was used to understand certain mystical texts, to decipher hidden meanings and so forth."

"So you're saying these vampires went to all this hassle for your basic decoder ring?" Buffy asked.

"Uh . . . actually, yes, I supposed I am."

Aria frowned as she read the article over Willow's shoulder. "Well, according to this, there's only one in the world and that was the one that was in the crypt," she said. "The one that was buried with him. Every other one was destroyed shortly before he died."

"Why destroy your own work?" Buffy asked.

"Perhaps he feared what might happen if it fell into the wrongs hands," Giles pointed out, his hands moving into his pockets as he began to pace back and forth across the room.

"A fear we'll seen get to experience for ourselves up close and personal," Xander said jokingly.

"Unless we stop it," Aria muttered.

"How?" Willow asked, looking between the two Slayers and the Watcher, worry written on her face.

"By learning what's in the book before they do," Giles answered as he sat down, "which means we can expect to be here until late tonight."

"Goody!" Willow cheered. "Research party."

Aria smiled. "I think you're the only person in the world who would do that particular cheer, Willow," she said as Buffy stood up. "Hey, where are you going?" she asked.

"I really have to bail," she said, giving her a pointed look and then Aria remembered. Buffy's skating date with Angel. "But I promise I'll be back bright and early tomorrow and ready to slay."

"This is a matter of some urgency, Buffy," Giles pointed out.

"I realise this. Well, you have to admit, I kind of lack in the book area. I mean, you guys are the brains, I'd only be here for moral support anyway," she said reasonably.

"That's untrue, Buffy, you totally contribute. You go for snacks!" Xander said helpfully.

"No, she should go," Aria said. She owed Buffy one anyway, for covering for her while she had been over at Jesse's a couple weeks ago. "One Slayer on board is enough for right now." Standing up, she gave her sister a smile. "Go on, save your strength."

"Perhaps you're right," Giles said in agreement. "There may be fierce battles ahead."

"But Ho-Hos are a vital part of my cognitive process!" Xander whined.

"I'll get you some," Aria said, rolling her eyes as she followed Buffy out. "I'll be right back, guys."

"I so owe you," Buffy said gratefully as they headed out into the hall.

"No, this is my owing _you _one for that time that I bailed on you and Giles for that hospital delivering blood thing," Aria told her, grinning. Buffy laughed as they headed out into parking lot. "Anyway, you deserve to have one night with Angel that doesn't include slaying and vampires. So go," she instructed, "and you guys have a good time. I will call you on your cell if we need you. But we'll try not to need you," she added with a grin.

"Have I mentioned lately that you're my favourite sister?" Buffy joked.

"Oh, give me a break," Aria said, returning Buffy's words to her. "You're my only sister."

Buffy smiled at her before giving her a hug. "Thanks," she said before whispering into her ear, "By the way, Jesse's over by the vending machines and he really looks miserable."

Aria straightened and glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, Jesse was standing by the vending machines. "Right," she said, swallowing. "And I did promise Xander Ho-Hoes, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," Buffy said with a smile. "Go get him. And good luck," she added as Aria headed over to the vending machines.

"Hey," she said awkwardly to her . . . well, she wasn't sure what to call him at the moment. Was he still her boyfriend or were they now broken up?

Jesse didn't even look at her. "What do you want?"

"Can we talk?" she asked quietly.

His blue-grey eyes fastened on her blue ones for a moment as then he bent over to pick up a soda out of the machines. "Sorry, I can't. I have to pick up Jake."

"Can we talk later?" she persisted.

"I have studying to do," he said flatly before turning on his back and walking away from her, leaving a heartbroken Slayer behind him.


	11. What's My Line III

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Eleven: What's My Line III

Aria walked back towards the library, feeling extremely depressed at Jesse's coldness and frustrated by his attitude towards Angel. She had tried to explain it to him, tried to explain that Angel was a good guy, but he just didn't want to listen. If using her powers wasn't against the Slayer code, then Aria would probably go over to his house and throttle him to attempt to knock some sense into him.

Pushing the door open, Aria tossed the Ho-Hoes to Xander without a word and a bag of pretzels for Willow and Giles before opening up some Doritos for herself and burying her head into the books to attempt to think about something other than her love life, which had been pretty nonexistent until she had come to Sunnydale.

It wasn't like Aria had ever been the popular girl. Moving around so much, she was lucky to find someone to eat lunch with and be friendly with. But since she had come here, she had found friends, family, and most of all love. Even though she hadn't known him for a long time, Aria felt something for Jesse that she had never felt before in her life. And she had thought that he had felt it too.

All couples fought, right? she thought reasonably. If it was just a fight, then maybe she wouldn't be so upset about this, but Jesse couldn't just trust her when she told him that her best friend, while a vampire, was a good guy?

This was one of those times when she craved desperately for a mother to talk to. Joyce was great, but she wasn't her mother. What she really wanted was her own mother to ask advice on, someone like a parent who would sit down with her and answer her questions and try and help her with her relationship with her boyfriend.

But Gwyneth Seymour was long dead and was of no help to her daughter with her relationship problems.

Aria stared down at the book, munching on the chips as she read the same sentence about twenty times before she realised what it was that she was doing and tried to focus on the words. Usually, she was much better at the research thing, but right now, she was having trouble focusing.

Running her hand through her hair, Aria looked up when the door to the library opened and she was startled to see Jesse walk through, looking surprised when he saw the study group there.

"Jesse, hi," Willow said brightly.

"Hi," Jesse said awkwardly, shifting on the heels of his feet and glancing at Aria once before he looked away. "Sorry to interrupt the study session, but . . . can we talk?" he asked her.

Looking over at Giles, Aria said, "I'll be right back. I'm not getting any work done anyway." She stood up and followed her boyfriend out of the door and into the hall. They stood in awkward silence for a few minutes. "I thought you had to pick up your brother."

"Apparently, he's got soccer practice until seven," Jesse said shortly. "Aria, I'm sorry. I was a real jerk before and . . . and I wasn't listening, but I really think I had some valid points there."

"I know you did," Aria said reasonably. "I'm not saying that you didn't, but Jess . . . jeez, would it have killed you to just listen to me? All you did was hear the words 'Angel is a vampire' before you practically exploded. It's not that I don't understand where you're coming from, but you could have at least listened to me before you just jumped in and started yelling and telling me that Buffy and I are disgraces to Slayers everywhere."

Jesse nodded miserably. "I know, you're right. Look, I'm not proud of it and I should've just talked to you before, but . . ." He managed a small grin. "I kind of got this stupid pride thing. Gets in the way sometimes. It's hard for me to admit that I was wrong."

"What changed your mind?"

"The way that you looked at me when you tried to talk to me at the vending machines," Jesse admitted. "You looked so hurt and I realised that no matter what our differences are, I don't want to hurt you. We might not agree on some things, but that doesn't mean that we should fight about them. It'd be pretty boring if we agreed on everything all the time."

Aria nodded in agreement, her arms wrapping around herself. "So . . . what does this mean?"

"Fight over?" Jesse suggested with a smile at her and she chuckled, nodding once.

"Fight over," she confirmed. He grinned and moved his arms around her, drawing her close. Aria snuggled her head into his chest, laying it on top of where his heart was as he laid his head on top of hers. "Just promise me one thing, Jess."

"What's that?"

"The next time that we have an argument like this, we at least listen to each other," she requested.

"I'm listening now," Jesse told her firmly. "Come on, let's go to the courtyard." She allowed him to lead her towards one of the benches. "All right . . . so tell me about Angel."

Aria smiled sadly. "Well, there was this vampire chick named Darla," she explained. "And she was the one who turned Angel . . ." She began explaining all of the details that Angel had given her, plus some that Buffy had told her, telling him about Angel's bloody history as Angelus before turning towards the Romany and the gypsy curse. She travelled towards her mother's death and how Angel had rescued her before moving onward to the present.

By the time that she was finished, Jesse was leaning back in his seat, looking completely thrown and astonished.

She waited a few seconds before snapping her fingers in front of his eyes, getting his attention. "Jesse?" Aria asked. "How you doing? Are you still with me?"

"Uh-huh . . . just trying to work through this whole thing," he said, still looking dazed. "All right, just so that we're clear, he's got a soul—"

"Right."

"And he hasn't fed off of humans for about a hundred years."

"So far so good."

"And now he's in love with a Vampire Slayer and best friends with the other one," Jesse finished up. Aria nodded, glad that he had gotten everything in his head. He let out a low whistle. "So if that's all that it takes, why not just curse all vampires with souls?"

"Because it depends on the soul of the person that they're cursing," Aria said reasonably. "Whatever else Angel was when he was alive, he was not a bad person. He was a very good person who bad things happened to. And anyway," she added. "The world isn't split into good people and demons. There's good and bad in all of us. All that matters is the part that we choose to act on."

Jesse shook his head. "So . . . I guess that means that he's off the slaying list," he mused. Aria gave him a look. "All right, all right, I get it. It's just gonna take me a little bit to get used to this."

"As long as you don't go hunting down my sister's boyfriend, because that would be bad," she told him. "Now . . . I have to get back to the library, because there's this whole big crisis thing and we have to figure out what's going on."

"Right." The disappointment was evident in his face as Aria stood up, but she smiled as she turned towards him.

"Do you wanna come?"

An ecstatic grin spread across his face and he took Aria's offered hand and they walked hand-in-hand towards the library. Giles gave her a curious look, but Aria just pushed a few books towards Jesse before giving him the explanation of what it was that was going on. Once he was up-to-date, they dived into the books to find a way to stop whatever it was that was happening.

Several hours later, Aria was once again yanked from her researching, but this time it was Buffy who came barging into the library. She and Angel had been attacked by a fierce and dangerous demon at the ice rink, who had been wearing a ring, which Buffy brought with her for Giles to examine, and Angel apparently had told her to go to safety before heading off to find information.

"This guy was hardcore, Giles," Buffy told him, accepting the ice pack that Aria got her for her leg, which was slightly hurt from being thrown onto the ice by the demon or whatever he had been. "And Angel was power-freaked by that ring."

"I'm afraid he was not overreacting," Giles said once he removed the ring from a magnifying lamp. He looked very serious and anxious. "This ring is worn only by the members of the Order of Taraka. It's a society of deadly assassins dating back to King Soloman."

"And didn't they beat the Elks this year in the Sunnydale adult bowling league championships?"

"Their credo is to sow discord and kill the unwary," Giles continued, not acknowledging Xander's jest.

"Bowling is a vicious game," Xander mused, causing Giles to look up and snap unexpectedly.

"That's enough, Xander!" Aria jumped at the sound of his raised voice and Jesse squeezed her hand under the table. Giles had the grace to look slightly regretful. "I'm sorry. It's just not the time for jokes, I need to think."

"Why are these assassins after Buffy?" Aria asked. "I mean, first that book gets stolen, then du Lac's crypt gets broken into, now there's a gang of assassins after my sister?" She looked around at the group. "Am I the only one who thinks that this isn't a coincidence?"

"No, that's not very likely," Giles agreed, taking off his glasses and running his hand over his face. "I think the best thing we can do is find a secure location. Somewhere out of the way you can go until we decide the best course of action.

Buffy stared at him before getting up to face their Watcher almost angrily. "Okay, now you and Angel have both said to head for the hills. Are you saying that I can't handle this?" she demanded. "That I'm not strong enough to fight these people?"

"They're a breed apart, Buffy," Giles said, not unkindly. "Unlike vampires, they have no earthly desires but to collect their bounty. They find a target and . . . and they eliminate it. You can kill as many of them as you like, it won't make any difference. Where there's on, there will be another and another. They won't stop coming until the job is done. Each of them works alone, in his own way. Some of them are human, some . . . are not. You won't know who they are until they strike."

--

Walking through the stands, Aria pulled out a few more volumes, hoping that they would be of any more help than the ones that she had already looked through, but she realised a second later that this was one of the same volumes that she had been reading several hours before. Letting out a groan, she moving into a sitting position against the stands.

Feeling someone's hands move over her temples, massaging them, Aria opened her eyes to find Jesse next to her. "Hey, how you doing?"

"Okay," Aria muttered. "What times is it?"

"About four thirty in the morning," Jesse answered with a shrug. "I think it's safe to say that we are definitely missing that Science test tomorrow. But I've got no problem with that," he joked.

Aria smiled faintly, laying her head onto her boyfriend's shoulder. "Won't your dad be wondering where you are?"

"I called him, told him that I was busy helping you save the world from a very dangerous and possibly homicidal vampire," Jesse said, smirking. Aria stared at him. "But I'm not sure that he believed me, because he just said that I should be home in time for dinner tomorrow and if I'm not, then I should just call and tell him."

"You actually told him the truth?" Aria said, making a face at him. "Dude, are you crazy?"

"I knew he'd never buy it, but what was I supposed to tell him? That we're hanging out at cemeteries?"

"Oh, yeah, because that's such a hip spot for kids to be hanging out at," Aria agreed. She sighed. "I hope Buffy's okay. I've never seen her lose it like that. She just took off."

"She'll be all right, but I sincerely doubt that she went home, because Xander already called about a million times," Jesse informed her.

"Yeah, she's not picking up on her cell either, I've already tried," Aria said, shaking her head. "But I have a feeling I already know where she is." Jesse looked at her curiously. "Well, if I were in her position and bunch of assassins were after me, I know where I'd go."

"Where?"

"I'd go to you," Aria answered softly, looking up at her boyfriend. "The safest place that I know."

Jesse smiled and leaned into kiss her, but they were interrupted by Willow yelling, "Don't warn the tadpoles!"

Looking at each other in curiosity, both of them jumped up and headed out towards the main part of the library to see what was going on.

"Is everything okay?" Aria asked upon seeing Willow at the computer and Giles right next to her. Willow looked like she had just woken up.

"What is everybody doing here?" Willow asked groggily and Aria couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head at the redhead.

"Willow, you're in the library," she informed her. Willow looked around, embarrassed as Aria and Jesse rejoined the other two. Xander had gone home earlier, at Giles' request. He had tried to send her, Jesse, and Willow home as well, but all three of them had opted to stay and help research. Anyway, Aria was sure that she wouldn't have gotten any sleep if she had tried.

"Don't warn the tadpoles?" Giles queried.

"I . . . I have frog fear," Willow said in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I conked out."

"What I think all of us need is some coffee," Jesse pointed out, checking his watch. "I know this coffee places that opens in about twenty minutes, anybody else want any caffeine?"

"Yes!" Aria said immediately. Normally, she didn't drink coffee—in fact, she had never actually had it—but she needed something to wake her up and she didn't think hot chocolate was going to do it.

"In a moment, Jesse," Giles told him. "I think I may have found something finally. I found a description of the missing du Lac manuscript. It's a ritual. Now, I haven't managed to decipher the exact details, but I believe the purpose it to restore a weak and sick vampire to full health."

"A vampire like Drusilla?" Willow questioned.

"Exactly," Giles answered with a nod. Aria let out a slow breath, leaning her head back.

"Okay," she said, moving her hands down her face and looked at her boyfriend. "_Now_ I need some coffee."

Jesse laughed slightly, kissing her forehead before he nodded. "All right, I'll be back, then. Anybody else?" he asked, looking around at the group.

"No, but thank you," Giles said.

"Will, you want to help?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, Willow, get out of here, you need a break, anyway," Aria told her, jerking her head towards the door. "Go, I'll help Giles."

Willow smiled as she got up, heading for the door with Jesse, and Aria turned back towards her Watcher. "We are so screwed, aren't we?"

"Not necessarily," he said. "If I can get the exact details, then we might have a chance at stopping this."

Aria nodded. "Then let's get to work."

Not even a half-hour after they had settled down to figure out the specifications of the du Lac ritual, the doors to the library swung open once again and Aria raised her head to see her sister walking through with a Jamaican girl right behind her.

"Buffy!" Aria jumped up, racing over to the blonde Slayer to hug her in relief. "Thank goodness you're all right, I was worried. Who are you?" she added to the new girl.

"She's a Vampire Slayer," Buffy said brightly, causing Aria and Giles to stare in disbelief.


	12. What's My Line IV

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Twelve: What's My Line IV

"And your Watcher is Sam Zabuto, you say?" Giles asked, pacing back and forth across the library as Aria just sat there in the chair that she had been occupying since her sister and the alleged Slayer had shown up, unable to move.

It was one thing to have her and Buffy as Slayers. Buffy was the real Slayer, the actual Slayer. Aria was the daughter of one. Theirs were two completely different scenarios. But for there to be actually two Slayers, both of them Chosen without having a mother for one . . . well, it was crazy! How could it have possibly happened?

"Yes, sir," the unnamed Slayer answered.

"We've never met," Giles admitted. "But he's very well-respected." Buffy glanced up at this, eyebrows raised.

"What, so he's a real guy?" she queried. "As in non-fictional?"

Giles didn't answer, looking at the new arrival. "And you are called . . .?"

"I am the Vampire Slayer," she said haughtily, causing both Buffy and Aria to look at her in almost exasperation.

"Okay, we've already gotten that part down," Aria said weakly. "Do you have a name or are we just supposed to call you that and pretty much throw the secret identity part out the window?"

"Oh. They call me Kendra. I have no last name, sir."

"Can you say stuck in the eighties?" Buffy muttered under her breath. Aria smiled faintly, but looked towards the newbie carefully. If her outward appearance was anything to judge by, then she was a by-the-book Slayer, not an unconventional one like her and Buffy. If she had to guess, then Aria would say that she was probably Watcher-raised.

Most Potential Slayers, Giles had explained to her, were taken from their families and raised by their Watchers, in case they were ever called to duty. Should that ever happen, then they were prepared for what they were destined to face and prepared to fight.

Buffy hadn't been one of these and neither had she, but hers were unusual circumstances.

Giles looked at the senior Slayer. "Buffy, please. There's obviously some misunderstanding here," he added to Kendra as Jesse and Willow came bouncing back into the library, with coffee in hand and Willow was a lot more awake then she had been when the two had left.

"Here you go," Jesse said, handing Aria the cup. "What's going on?"

"Identify yourself!" Kendra barked at the two of them, striding over to Willow, who was taken aback by the tone.

"Back off, Pink Ranger!" Buffy said sharply. "They're our friends. You didn't give her coffee, did you?" she added, nodding to Willow. Jesse shook his head, grinning.

"No, I'm well aware of her low-tolerance for it," he assured her as Aria sipped the coffee that she had been given, sighing in relief as the caffeine woke her up a little bit.

"Friend?" Kendra repeated, looking confused.

"Yeah, as in person you hang with? Amigo?" Buffy suggested.

"Civilians that hang with us, socially," Aria amended when it was clear that Kendra was still in the dark about what her sister meant. "Does your Watcher keep you locked up in a monastery or something? Or . . ." She looked over at Giles. "What's the female version of a monastery?"

"A convent," he answered as Kendra was digesting the idea of Slayers socialising with civilians as well as Aria's identity, which they hadn't gotten around to discussing yet.

"Are you not a civilian as well?" she inquired and Aria leaned her head back, suddenly wishing that she had gone to bed after all.

"She's a Slayer as well," Giles explained. "Aria's mother was Gwyneth Seymour and somehow, we're not exactly sure how, but Aria inherited her mother's gifts. Therefore, she is as much a Slayer as Buffy and . . . you are."

"And you two know about them?" Kendra asked, looking disdainfully at Jesse and Willow. "But a Slayer must work in secret, for security."

"Of course, but with Buffy and Aria, however, it's . . . some flexibility is required."

"Why?"

"Uh . . . guys?" Willow interrupted, looking just as confused as Jesse looked. "What's going on?"

"Apparently, there's been a really big mix up," Buffy told her as she went to sit down next to Aria.

"It seems that somehow, another Slayer has been sent Sunnydale," Giles explained to them.

"What?" Jesse asked, bewildered. "How? Why?"

"Yeah, is that even possible? Two Slayers at the same time?"

"Aria is the only explanation that we have for two Slayers being activated at the same time," Giles answered Willow, running a hand through his hair as he resumed paced. "Not to my knowledge, this has never happened before. The new Slayer is only called after the previous Slayer has died." Aria noticed the graveness settle down around the group as realisation dawned around them.

"What?" she asked. "What did you just figure out?"

"Good lord," Giles whispered, turning to look at the blonde Slayer. "You were dead, Buffy."

"What?" Aria and Jesse exclaimed as Buffy shifted uncomfortably in her seat, making a face.

"I was only gone for a minute," she pointed out.

"Clearly, it doesn't matter how long you were gone," Giles said as Aria stared at her sister, wondering how and when she had died. Obviously, it had to have happened before she had arrived. "You were physically dead! Thus causing the activation of the next Slayer."

"She died?" Kendra said sharply.

"Just a little," Buffy muttered, looking uncomfortably about the subject.

"She drowned," Giles explained to the three who were unaware of the events that had caused Buffy's premature death. "She was revived."

"So there really are three of them!" Willow exclaimed.

"It would seem so," Giles agreed. "This is completely unprecedented. I'm quite flummoxed."

"What's the flum?" Buffy said, giving him a look. "It's a mistake, she isn't supposed to be here, she goes home! Look, no offence," she added to Kendra, "I really don't mean this personally, but I'm not dead and quite frankly, having you around creeps me out just a little bit."

"Very poetic," Aria told her.

"I cannot just leave. I was sent here for a reason. Mr. Zabuto said all the signs indicate that a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale."

Aria frowned, looking over at Giles. "That explains the ritual that we found," she pointed out. "But will somebody please explain when and how my sister was supposedly killed?!"

"I'll give you the details later," Buffy assured her.

With a sigh, Aria gave in. "Fine."

Turning to Kendra, Buffy asked, "So what's your great plan for finding this dark power? You just gonna attack people randomly until you find a bad one?" she asked sarcastically.

"Of course not."

"Then why did you attack me?" Buffy snapped, placing her hands on her hips to glare at the younger Slayer.

"I thought you were a vampire," Kendra said with a shrug.

"She's not nearly as pale as a vampire," Jesse put in. "Besides, she's still got a heartbeat and stuff."

"I had good reason to think that you were," Kendra said, giving Buffy a scornful look. "Did I not see you kissing a vampire?"

"Oh, it's a good thing you know about this now, because this would have really caused a big fight," Aria whispered in an undertone, looking sideways at Jesse, who actually laughed.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to agree with you on that one," he agreed as Willow stood up protectively.

"Buffy would never do that! Oh, except sometimes you do that," she added weakly as she was met with incredulous looks from Buffy, Aria, Jesse, and Giles. "But only with Angel," she added fiercely before looking warily at her best friend. "Right?"

"Yes, right," Buffy said. "Look, you saw me with Angel and he is a vampire, but he's good."

"Angel?" Kendra said, her voice turning cold. "You mean Angelus? I've read about him. He is a monster."

"Hey!" Aria snapped. "Watch it. That's my best friend that you're talking about there. And he's good now. How many times am I gonna have to have this argument in a week?" she grumbled.

"He had a gypsy curse," Buffy added.

"He has a what?" Kendra asked, confused and Buffy lost her patience with her there.

"You know what? Just trust me on this one, okay?" she retorted. "He's on the home team now."

"I cannot believe you," Kendra said, shaking her head. "He looked to me just like another animal when I . . ." She trailed off, but both Slayers had caught her words and Aria stood up the same time as Buffy.

"When you what?" Buffy demanded, looking furious and frightened.

"What did you do to Angel?" Aria asked, placing her hands on her hips. "You've got about three seconds and then you're going to have two very upset Slayers on your hands."

Kendra shrugged, not looking very upset as she told them, "I locked him in a cage with eastern exposure."

Aria sucked in her breath as Buffy's face went white with a mixture of fear, anger, and terror. Her head snapped towards the window, where the sun was already high in the sky. "Come on, let's go!" she said, grabbing her sister's arm. Without thinking, she shoved Kendra ahead of them. "And you, missy, are going to show us where. Giles, we'll be back!" she added as all three Slayers left the library.

--

"Angel?!" Buffy yelled as they raced into the back room of the bar where Kendra had left the ensouled vampire, but there was no sign of him, no hint that he had even been there. Aria looked around at the cage, bending down to examine the floor carefully, hope rising through her as she saw that, while the floor was considerably dirty, there were no ashes.

"Buffy, he's alive," she called to her sister, who turned around, the fear still written in her eyes. "Look, there's no ashes." Kendra was leaning against the cage, the distaste written on her face as she watched her fellow Slayers search for any sign of Angel.

"So I did not kill him," she said flatly, as though this did not matter a great deal of whether or not he was alive.

"And we don't need to kill you," Buffy snapped.

"Okay, enough, the both of you," Aria said patiently. "Look, all we know right now is that Angel is alive and for right now, that's enough. The question is, where is he?" she added to Buffy. "With these assassins hanging around, he's not likely to leave you alone." Buffy managed a small smile as a voice announced a new arrival.

"Whoa. There's a lot of tension in this room," the man observed.

Kendra instantly moved into action, tackling the man and shoving him out of the back room, into the bar, and he landed onto the floor in a heap. Not hesitating, the junior Slayer forced him onto the ground, her eyebrows narrowed with aversion.

"Doesn't anybody just say 'hello where you come from?" Buffy demanded as she and Aria raced into the next room to help the man, who was whimpering due to Kendra's strong grip.

"This one is dirty!" Kendra shot back. "I can feel it!"

"Yeah, so that makes it okay for him to be attacked when he hasn't done anything," Aria said as she yanked Kendra off of him, shoving her away.

"Besides," Buffy added as she grabbed the man, pulling him to his feet. "We're not going to get anything out of he's unconscious!" She pushed the bartender onto the bar, giving him a look. "Where's Angel?"

"My buddy Angel?" the man squeaked, clearly apprehensive of them. "You think I'd let him fry? I saved him in the nick! He was about five minutes away from being a crispy critter."

Aria and Buffy exchanged a look. While he might be telling them the truth, Aria had the feeling that he was leaving something out. The way that his eyes kept darting around them, searching for an escape route, only intensified this suspicion.

"Where'd he go?" she asked him.

"Uh . . . he said he was gonna stay underground," he answered weakly. "You know, recuperate."

Leaning in closer to him, Buffy gave him an intimidating look. "Are you telling me the truth?" she asked sweetly.

The man nodded quickly, clearly afraid of all three Slayers. "I swear on my mother's grave!" he insisted. Aria gave him a look and he quailed under her stare. "Should something fatal happen to her, god forbid," he quickly amended, shrinking from them.

"Then he is all right," Kendra said decidedly. "We can return to your Watcher for our orders."

Releasing the man, Buffy turned to Kendra. She still wasn't forgiven for almost killing Angel. "I don't take orders. I do things my way."

"No wonder you died," she returned.

"Let's go," Aria ordered. "We should at least make an appearance at school, anyway," she added to Buffy. "Principal Snyder's likely to phone social services if I keep skipping classes."

Buffy managed a small grin as they headed out of the bar, but the man stopped them when they were halfway out the door.

"I have to ask, have any of you girls ever considered modelling?" he wanted to know. "I have a friend who works with a camera. Strictly high-class nude work. You know, art photographs, but naked." All three Slayers looked at each other.

"This is possibly the first thing that all three of us have agreed on," Aria muttered as they walked out the door.

"No kidding," Buffy agreed.


	13. What's My Line V

**Destiny's Call**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Thirteen: What's My Line V

The hallways were crowded as Career Day was in full force, but unfortunately, Aria couldn't focus on her future when there was the very grim possibility that none of them were going to have a future at all. With everything that was going on around them, she couldn't focus on the normality in her life when a, Spike was possibly going to revive Drusilla with a dark ritual, b, Angel was still missing, and c, she was pretty sure that the two things were coincided. Angel wouldn't just take off without a least calling them to let them know that he was all right.

But she couldn't share this theory with Buffy, who was already worried enough about him, even if she did show it. Aria strayed in line with her sister and the others as they were discussing the daily demon—which in this case was Spike and Drusilla.

"Kendra, I've conferred with your Watcher Mr. Zabuto and we both agreed that until this matter with Spike and Drusilla has been resolved that the three of you should work together."

"Oh, that'll be a treat," Buffy complained. Aria gave her a meaningful look; it wasn't that she didn't like Kendra, it was just that she . . .

Well, it was that she had tried to kill her best friend and Aria didn't have that many friends, so those she had, she tended to be quite protective of them.

"So you believe that Spike attempting to revive this Drusilla to health?" Kendra questioned. After they had gotten back from the bar where Kendra had left Drusilla, Giles, with help from Aria, Jesse, and Willow, explained what they had found about the ritual. Needless to say, this hadn't exactly been the highlight of the day.

"Yes, well, I think that's the dark power that your Watcher referred to," Giles explained to the junior Slayer.

"Drusilla's not just some vampire, she's completely crazy," Aria told her. She'd never actually met Drusilla, but Angel had told her enough about the vampire. "And I don't mean crazy as a metaphor."

"Exactly," Giles said with a nod. "And if she's restored to full health, then there's absolutely no telling what she might do."

"Then we will stop Spike," Kendra said determinedly, as though this settled everything.

"Oh, good plan!" Buffy said almost enthusiastically. "Let's go, charge! It's a little more complicated than that, John Wayne," she told Kendra.

"There's a bunch of assassins after Buffy," Aria explained. "What was it that you called them, Giles? The Order of Taraka?"

"The assassins?" Kendra inquired, looking thoroughly impressed. "I read about them in the writings of Dramius."

Giles looked surprised and interested. "Oh, really?" he questioned, shifting the books that he was holding. "Which volume?"

"I believe it was six, sir."

"How do you know all of this?" Buffy wanted to know, staring at the Jamaican Slayer.

"From me studies."

"So obviously you have a lot of free time," Buffy said dryly. Aria smiled as Jesse wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. Kendra noticed this with obvious disapproval, from the way that her lips pierced together. Clearly, her Watcher didn't approve of Slayers dating.

"I study because it is required," she told the blonde. "The Slayer handbook insists on it."

"There's a Slayer handbook?" Willow asked, highly interested as Aria blinked in surprise.

"What handbook?" she asked, looking at Giles, then at Buffy. "Did you know about a handbook?" Her sister shook her head, looking just as confused. "How come I didn't get one?"

"Well, Buffy, after meeting you, I realised that the handbook would be of no use in your case," Giles explained before looking at Aria. "To the both of you, actually. Especially with your case, Aria." She rolled her eyes; being the daughter of a Slayer instead of just a regular one sometimes put a damper on things.

"Couldn't I have at least gotten the _option_ of getting one?" she grumbled, getting a laugh from her boyfriend. "Shut up, mister."

"Um, Kendra, perhaps you'd like to show me the part in Dramius Six where it refers to the Order of the Taraka," Giles said, quickly changing the subject. "I seem to have never been able to get through that book. It was a bit stodgy," he said. Aria avoided looking at Buffy, sure that she was going to laugh if she did. If there was a book that was stodgier than Giles, it would be a miracle. Her Watcher was one of the best people that she knew and she was coming to regard him as a father figure, but he was still stodgy.

"Oh, and girls," he added just as the two were about to walk away towards the library. "Principal Snyder was snooping around after you."

"Me, why me?" Aria wanted to know.

"Because you're hanging around with me and he tends to think the worst of me," Buffy muttered darkly. "Guess I should go to Career Day."

"Probably for the best," Giles agreed before looking at Kendra. "Let's go and find the book, shall we?"

"Man, that is one strange girl," Jesse observed as they watched the two of them walk away. "Is that what all Slayers are supposed to be like?" Aria and Buffy gave him a look. "Guess not."

"I think that's how all of them that are Watcher-raised are like," Aria admitted as they started heading towards the building where Career Day was being held.

"Yeah, bet Giles wishes that I was more of a book geek," Buffy said gloomily. "Did you see the way that they were vibing? Volume six," she added mockingly, but it was clear she was upset.

"Buffy, no one could ever replace you," Willow said soothingly. "You'll always be Giles' favourite."

"Hey, what am I? A next door neighbour?" Aria complained, causing Buffy to smile and Willow chuckle. "But she's right, Buffy; you're the Slayer, the original. And apparently, the only one who's ever come back from the dead."

"I promise, when this is over, I will tell you about that," Buffy said, throwing up her hands in aggravation as Aria gave her a pointed look.

"Yeah, yeah," Aria said, shaking her head.

"But would it be so bad?" Buffy added more seriously. "I mean, being replaced?"

"You mean, like, letting Kendra take over?"

"Maybe," Buffy mused, looking thoughtful. "I mean, after this thing with Spike and the assassins is over, I could say, 'Kendra, you slay, I'm going to Disneyland'."

"Buffy," Aria said, pulling out of Jesse's embrace to look at her sister more seriously, "that's what I'm here for. Kendra's not gonna replace you. If you want to go to Disneyland, then go. I can stay here and slay the bad guys. That's what sisters means. We help each other out."

"Yeah, but I'd always have to come back," Buffy said quietly. "I couldn't have a normal life."

"Normal is vastly overrated," Aria said, making all three of them laugh as they headed into the school for Career Day.

--

Since she had checked out the booth for law enforcement yesterday, Aria headed over to the booth for artistic talents, talking to one of the recruiters about what kind of jobs that she could get for that and getting some brochures while the recruiter looked through the portfolio that she had on her, glancing through her work.

"They're very good," the recruiter said as she glanced through them, giving Aria a rare smile. "Very impressive, actually, for someone your age. Where did you learn how to draw like this?" she questioned.

"Um . . . my bedroom, mostly," Aria answered, shrugging. The recruiter nodded, looking perturbed. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, just surprising for someone of your talent," the recruiter answered, picking up a few brochures. "Have you thought about where you might want to go to school? Because there are several art colleges that I think would be interested in having a talented young lady like yourself and they have several scholarships available."

"I . . . haven't really thought about it," Aria admitted, frowning. "But I kind of wanted to stick close to here. I mean, my sister's here and I don't really want to leave her here."

The recruiter nodded. "I understand. I've got a brother that I'm close to," she said, smiling. "Well, if you wanted to stay in Sunnydale, UCSunnydale has an excellent art program. You might want to check it out," she said, handing over a few brochures to her. Aria took them, looking down at the pictures before looking up at the recruiter.

But before she could so much as get a word in, a gunshot rang out, echoing throughout the cafeteria and Aria's head snapped over to where it was coming from, straight from the law enforcement booth.

"Gotta go," she said quickly, breaking into a run and racing straight for where Buffy and Willow were at, Kendra coming at her from the side. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," she replied as they ran for where the commotion was coming from to find that Buffy was in a scuffle with the law enforcement recruiter, whom Aria didn't recognise from the day before, but if she had to take a guess, she would have to say that she was no police officer.

"GET DOWN!" Buffy yelled at them and Aria dropped to the ground as another gunshot echoed around them. All through the cafeteria, students were screaming and ducking for cover.

Kicking the cop as she went passed her, Aria and Kendra raced after her as she headed out the door, leaving Buffy to kneel beside Willow and a musician that Aria had seen play at the Bronze who was currently nursing a shoulder that had a bullet lodged in it.

Unfortunately, the cop lady was quicker than the two Slayers and by the time that Aria got outside, there was no sign of her. She had pretty much vanished into thin air.

"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and say that she was one of the Order of Taraka," she commented. Kendra nodded in agreement as they headed back to the cafeteria. Buffy looked around at them as they returned. "She got away," Aria said grimly before looking at the musician. "Is he okay?"

"It's only a shoulder wound," Buffy answered, speaking to both Aria and the musician. "You'll be okay."

"Was that a demonstration?" a student named Jonathan asked, looking towards the Slayers, who all looked at each other.

"Has anybody called 911?" Aria said crisply, moving the subject away from the psycho cop and back to the fact that there was someone who was in desperate need of help.

Once the paramedics had arrived and Willow had made sure that Oz, as Aria found out his name was, was perfectly safe and wasn't in any danger other than needing to go to the hospital, the group headed to the library to inform Giles of what had happened.

"She was definitely one of the Taraka gang, Giles," Buffy told their Watcher, "and way too gun happy."

"This Oz chap," Giles asked. "He's all right?"

"The paramedics said it was only a scrap," Willow replied. Aria glanced at her, hearing the relief in her voice. A small, half-smile passed her lips as she noted the redhead's expression. She cast a quick glance at Buffy curiously and her sister gave her a wink, nodding discreetly.

The library doors opened and Xander walked into the library with Cordelia. Automatically, Kendra jumped to her feet, about ready to attack them. Aria grabbed her arm.

"Down, girl," she ordered. "They're friends, too. Really, do you have to attack everybody that comes through the door?"

"Who sponsored Career Day today?" Xander asked. Obviously, they had seen the mess in the cafeteria. "The British Soccer Fan Association?"

"Nope," Aria told him cheerfully. "Actually, it was the Order of Taraka. What happened to you two, anyway? We were starting to get worried."

"You want to take Order of Taraka?" Xander replied. "We just met the king _freak_ of the . . ." Suddenly, he noticed the Jamaican Slayer that was standing near Aria. "Hello," he said, eyeing her in interest. Aria rolled her eyes; why is it that boys seemed to become completely difference whenever they were around pretty girls?

"Men," she muttered, getting a look for Jesse as he pulled her closer to him, setting her into his lap.

"Oh, forgive me," Giles said, immediately making introductions. "Xander, Cordelia, this is Kendra. It's a rather complication, rather long story, but she's also a Slayer."

"Nice to meet you," Cordelia said, obviously not caring as she headed towards the table.

"A Slayer, huh?" He looked over at Buffy and Aria. "I knew that the whole thing about you two being the only ones was just an attention-getter." Aria gave him a look, which he immediately backed away from and he turned his attention back to Kendra. "So you're a Slayer, huh? I like that in a woman," he said, grinning.

"You have to wonder where he gets his pick-up lines at," Jesse muttered into her ear. Aria shook her head as Giles returned their attention to what they were concentrating on.

"Xander, this . . . this assassin that you encountered," Giles asked. "What did he look like?" Cordelia screamed without warning and flung a worm out from her dark hair and onto one of Giles' many books that were sitting on the table, fleeing from the library to shower.

"Like that," Xander answered, nodding at the worm.

"You and bug people, Xander," Buffy commented, cocking her head to stare at the bug. "What's up with that?"

"No, this dude was _completely_ different than that preying mantis lady," Xander protested. "This guy was a man made out of bugs, not a man who _was_ a bug." He slammed the book shut to close it, efficiently killing it.

"Well, at least the two of you are all right, nobody's gotten hurt with these last two attacks," Jesse said reasonably.

"But it's quite apparent that we're under serious attack," Giles added, nodding. "And I fear that the worst is yet to come. I've discovered the remaining keys to Drusilla's cure. The ritual required the presence of her sire and must take place in a church on the night of the new moon."

Aria only heard the words 'presence of her sire', her blood running cold as she looked sideways at Buffy, whose face had grown pale as she stepped away from the group, turning her back on them. With those words, they both knew exactly why Angel had conveniently disappeared and why he hadn't so much as bothered to check in with either of them.

"The new moon," Kendra repeated. "But that is tonight."

"Exactly," Giles agreed. "And I'm sure that the assassins were here to kill Buffy before she could put a stop to things."

Buffy turned around to face Giles. "They need Drusilla's sire," she repeated. "You mean the vamp that made her?"

"Yes," Giles answered, looking worried as he saw the expressions on both of the Slayers' faces.

"What is it?" Willow asked, alarmed.

"Angel," Aria answered quietly, worry flooding through her about her best friend. "He's Dursilla's sire."

"Man, that guy got major neck in his day," Xander said none too quietly, causing both Willow and Aria, who got up and walked over to him, to smack him upside the head. "Ow!"

"Shut up, Xander," Aria told him, her patience running thin as she looked over at her sister, who was looking at Giles anxiously.

"Will this ritual kill him?" Buffy's voice was calm, portraying none of the worry and apprehension and fear that resided within her eyes.

Giles swallowed, looking at her with some defeat. "Yes," he answered quietly, "I'm afraid it will."

That was all it took for Buffy to go into full Slayer mode, immediately taking charge.

"We need to find this church," she ordered. "We need to find where this ritual is going to take place."

"Agreed," Giles said as he began to get to work, checking his watch quickly. "And we must work quickly, we have five hours before sundown."

"Don't worry, Buffy," Aria assured her sister, "we'll save Angel."

"Angel?" Kendra said scornfully from where she was standing, her arms folded across her chest and she was scowling at them. "But our priority is to stop Drusilla."

"Shut up," Aria snapped as she walked over to the Jamaican Slayer, giving her a very angry look. "I don't know what kind of environment you grew up and how you were raised, but around here, we don't turn our backs on our friends."

"You've got your priorities and we've got ours," Buffy said, giving her a dark look from where she was. "Right now, they mesh. So are you going to help us or are you going to get out of our way?" Under the scrutiny of both Slayers, Kendra sighed, giving in.

"I'm with you."

Buffy nodded as Aria walked back over to her to help them. "Good, because I've had it. Spike is going down. You can attack me, you can send assassins after me, that's fine. But nobody messes with my boyfriend," she said dangerously.


End file.
